Surviving the Dead
by Hilaryh25
Summary: Samantha Dixon grew up rough, not like her two older brothers though, she struggles to survive in this crazy world along side her brother and meets someone who changes her life in a way she never expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Surviving the Dead**

 **A/N: Okay so I love the Walking Dead and I wanted to write another story about it. In this one my OC and Jesus are going to eventuakky become a couple, I'm not going to have him gay in this story, not that I have anything against that it's just he's kind of cute and this story popped into my head recently. I hope you enjoy. Also side note I'm gonna take it from season 4 and go from there.**

How did the world end up like this? One minute I was at the bar drinking with my brothers and the next we were running for our lives from the dead. I can say one things for certain, it sure has been a hell of a journey, we started off just living up in a quarry with some people we met along the way, lost Jim, Jaqui, Ed, Amy, Merle...well we didn't know if he was dead or alive. Then we ended up on a farm, but we lost Sophia, Carol's daughter, a sweet little girl, Dale, Shane and a few people who were on the farm that took us in. Now we're here, at a prison, where sadly we lost T-dog and Lori, then Daryl found Merle but he was dead as well. We've turned it into a home and have had 30 days without incident, ran into a man called the Governor who wanted to take this place from us but we fought back and ended up bringing his people in. Life was going good...at least for now. I'm Samantha Dixon and this is my story on how I am surviving the apocalypse.

* * *

"Morning, Daryl." I heard Dr. S say I look up to see my older brother walking over to me and Carol, she was cooking the deer Daryl got and I was cutting up vegetables

"What's up, Dr. S"

"Morning, Daryl"

"Morning, Daryl."

"Hey, Daryl!" Other people greeted and he looked back then at Carol grabbing a plate

"Smells good."

"Just so you know, I liked you first." Carol told him and I snorted

"Stop. You know, Rick brought in a lot of them, too."

"Not recently. Give the stranger sanctuary, keeping people fed, you're gonna have to learn to live with the love big brother." I told him and he shoved me, me and Daryl have always been close, he always took the beatings our dad would give even if some of them were directed at me. Me and Merle...well he was always so tough and never showed emotions, hard ass redneck really but I still loved him and I miss him

"I need you to see something. Patrick, you want to take over?" Carol asked the young boy

"Yes, ma'am." He walked over and stopped Daryl, "Mr. Dixon, I just wanted to thank you for bringing that deer back yesterday. It was a real treat, sir. And I'd be honored to shake your hand." He said and held his hand out, Daryl looked breifly at me and Carol then sucked the juice off his fingers and shook the boys hand and we walked away

"Excuse me Mr. Dixon can I have your autograph?" I joked and he shoved me once again and I giggled

"Shut up Sammie." He grunted and we followed Carol

* * *

"About today, I don't know if we're gonna be able to spare a lot of people for the run." Carol tells him, since everything that had happened recently Rick stopped leading us and now there was a small council consisting of Hershal, Michonne, Carol, Glenn, Daryl and me

"That place is good to go. We're gonna move on it."

"Yeah. The thing is, we had a pretty big buildup overnight." She tells him and we look down at the fence, "Dozens more towards tower three. It's getting as bad as last month. They don't spread out anymore."

"With more of us sitting here, we're drawing more of them out. You get enough of those damn fence-clingers, they start to herd up." He says

"Pushing against the fences again. It's manageable, but unless we get ahead of it, not for long." Carol inputs and looks at him, "Sorry Pookie" She joked and he nudged her with his shoulder and walked away.

* * *

"Okay, are you gonna say good-bye?" I heard Zach ask Beth as she walked past me and Daryl who were walking supplies to the back of the truck

"Nope."

"It's like a damn romance novel." Daryl says and he put the basket in the bed off the truck

"Oh stop it, it's young love. There's nothin' sweeter" I tell him putting my bag in the bag

"You're one to talk, how come you don't find someone?" He asked me

"Me trying to find someone who would be remotely interested is like finding a cure for this world we live in."

"Stop, you've had relationships" He tells me and I chuckle

"Yeah until you and Merle started to scare them off...well Merle more then you."

"Yeah well, I only wanted the best for ya, Merle...he was just an ass." He said

"Yeah, but even still, I miss him" I tell him and he put his hand on my shoulder

"Me too."

* * *

"Well, look who's back." Daryl tells Michonne as he stops his bike and I pull mine up next to him

"Didn't find him."

"Glad to see you in one piece." I said to her

"I'm thinking of looking over near Macon. It's worth a shot." She mentioned and I look at Rick who didn't seemed to thrilled about the idea

"70 miles of walkers. You might run into a few unneighborly types. Is it?" Daryl asked her then looked at Rick, "I'm gonna go check out the Big Spot. The one I was talking about, just seeing."

"Yeah, I got to go out and check the snares. I don't want to lose whatever we catch to the walkers."

"I'll go." Michonne said and started to walk to the car

"You just got here." Carl says and she looks at him

"And I'll be back."

* * *

"Army came in and put these fences up. Made it a place for the people to go. Last week when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain-link keeping people out like a bunch of guard dogs." Daryl mentioned to us as we stood by a fence next to the Big Spot

"So they all just left?" Bob asked him

"Give a listen." I tell Bob and we hear music playing

"You drew 'em out." Michonne says

"Put a boom box out there three days ago." Sasha says to her

"Hooked it up to two car batteries." Glenn adds

"All right, let's make a sweep. Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can. We'll come back tomorrow with more people. Come on." Daryl tells us and we make our way in

* * *

"Just give it a second." Daryl tells us after knocking on a glass window outside the building

"Okay, I think I got it." Zack said from next to him

"Got what?" Michonne asked him

"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn."

"He's been trying to guess for, like, six weeks." I tell her

"Yeah, I'm pacing myself. One shot a day."

"All right, shoot." Daryl says to him

"Well, the way you are at the prison, you being on the council, you're able to track, you're helping people, but you're still being kind of... surly. Big swing here. Homicide cop." Zack says and Michonne laughed and I snorted

"What's so funny?" Daryl asked us

"Nothing. It makes perfect sense." Michonne told him and I shrugged

"Actually, the man's right. Undercover." Daryl says

"Come on, really?" Zack asked him

"Yep. I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?"

"Dude, come on, really?" Zach asked again and looked at me then back at Daryl, "Okay. I'll just keep guessing, I guess."

"Yeah, you keep doing that." Daryl tells him and a couple walkers bump up against the glass

"We're gonna do this, Detective?" Michonne asked Daryl as he stood up

"Let's do it."

"All right, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep. After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for. Any questions?" Sasha asked us

"Was there ever a time that you weren't the boss of me?" Tyresse asked her

"You had a few years before I was born." She says to him and we head in

* * *

I was standing at a clothes rack looking at a black flowy tank top when Daryl walked up to me, "Find something?" He asked and I looked at him

"Just a shirt" I said and walked away

"Why don't you take it?"

"It's just more crap to carry if we ever have to run" I tell him and he sighed, I never really thought that we were going to be in the prison for much longer, we didn't know where the Governor was, walkers keep building up on the fences and to me it didn't really feel like a home. Granted these days it's better then living out there, least we had a roof over our heads, I was brought out of my thoughts when we hear a loud crash and run over to it. We see a shelf fell over and Bob was underneath it.

"You all right? You cut or something?" Daryl asked him crouching down to look

"No, man, but my foot is caught."

"All right. He's just caught. Come on, help me up." Daryl tells Zach and Tyresse who joined us

"What happened?" I hear Glenn ask

"Everyone's all right. We're over in wine and beer." I replied helping with the shelf

"I was moving fast, man. I drove right into the drinks." Bob tells us and Tyresse knelt down next to him

"Man, you lucked out. If this thing had come down on you the wrong way..." He started to say but then we heard a noise from above and saw a walker crash through the roof

"Yeah, uh, we should probably go now." Glenn said and I nodded grabbing my stuff

"Bob's still stuck. Get him out of there." Daryl points out going back over to Bob

"We'll get the others." Michonne adds and more walkers start to fall through, we back up, more and more come through and I back up into a shelf as one comes near me and I fire my gun killing it then move forward trying to find Daryl. I rounded a corner seeing him shoot one in the head and beat other other one with his crossbow.

"Hey!" I hear Bob yell from under the shelf, I went to move over to him but two walkers appeared and I moved back, I went to back around the other side of the shelf when I tripped over a dead one and fell then the two others fell on me. I put my hands on them holding them back and started to loose my strength when I see a bolt go into ones head and the other got lifted off of me then stabbed, I grabbed my brother's hand and thanked him. We made our way back out from the aisle, Daryl shot one in the head and I stabbed another as more made their way over, we climbed on top of a stack of beer cases, we looked up and saw a helicopter look like it was about to fall through. I started stabbing and shooting at walkers then we made our way down the cases as Glenn came over to us shooting more of them.

"Daryl, Sam go!" He tells us and we make our way to Bob, Daryl grabs the walker Bob was trying to hold back and stomped on his head as Zack put his back to the shelf lifting it up and I pulled Bob out. Just then I hear Zack scream and I turn to see a walker biting him, I went to move to help him but Daryl pulled me back and we started to move

"Go, go!" Daryl shouted and I looked back at Zack but then the roof collapsed as we rushed out.

* * *

I stood by the sink in the room finishing cleaning myself when there was a knock outside my cell door, I pulled my shirt over my head and moved the blanket back seeing Daryl standing there.

"How did it go?" I asked him

"Alright I guess, like I told Beth, just tired of losing people."

"Same here, but at least we still have each other." I tell and he nodded his head

"Here," He held up his hand and handed me the shirt I saw at the store, "You should feel at home here, it's home and we ain't leavin."

"Thank you big brother" I tell him and he nodded then walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Surviving the Dead**

I was starting to head up into the guard tower to join Maggie taking over Glenn's shift when I heard gunshots go off in the prison, I rushed back down and joined up with Rick as we ran to the others

"Walkers in D!" Glenn shouted at us

"What about C?!" Rick asked

"Clear." Sasha answered as her, Daryl and Tyresse came out of C block, "We locked the gates to the tombs. Hershel's on guard."

"It ain't a breach." Daryl tells him as we start to head towards D block

"We followed the plan." Sasha adds

* * *

We run into the cell block, me and Daryl start to head up the stairs, "Daryl!" Rick yelled at him and Daryl tossed him the gun he was holding

"I got it. Are you bit?" I hear Rick asking people as I saw a little boy on the ground crawling away from a walker, I ran over picking him up then shot the walker in the head and handed the boy to Karen. I stabbed another walker in the head when one grabbed me but Glenn quickly got it.

"Are we clear down here?" Rick asked us

"Yeah" I answered and followed Daryl back up the stairs with Rick following shortly after, Glenn was already up there when a walker came out of a cell and grabbed him

"Get down!" Daryl told him and shot the walker in the head through the bars

"Thanks"

Rick moved the blanket aside and we look in, "Oh it's Patrick" Daryl says and I hang my head down. We look at the woman laying in the cell who hadn't turned yet and Rick looks at Daryl, "I got it" Daryl tells him and shots his bolt into her head. Rick and Glenn moved away and I waited for Daryl, "You alright?" He asked and I nodded my head.

I walk over to Rick with Daryl behind me when we hear a growling, I look into a locked cell and saw Charlie move towards the door, or what used to be Charlie, I looked at Daryl then back at Charlie grabbing my knife and killing him.

* * *

"No bites. No wounds. I think he just died." Rick points out to us as we look at Charlie's body

"Horribly, too. Pleurisy aspiration." Dr. S mentioned

"Choked to death on his own blood. Caused those trails down his face." Hershal adds

"I've seen them before on a walker outside the fences." Rick points out

"I saw them on Patrick, too." Daryl says

"They're from the internal lung pressure building up- like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top." Dr. S said

"It's a sickness, from the walkers?" I asked him

"No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain."

"Someone locked him in just in time." Hershal says

"No, Charlie used to sleepwalk, he locked himself in." I tell him and Daryl puts his hand on my shoulder, Charlie was someone I was kind of flirting with and hooked up with after what happened at the Big Spot

"Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?" Daryl asked

"I had a sick pig, it died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods." Rick replied

"Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past. We need to do something about those hogs." Hershal inputs

"Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Dr. S said

"Haven't seen anybody be lucky in a long time. Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this." I tell them

"All of us in here, we've all been exposed." Hershal tells us and I looked from Daryl to Charlie, _just great_.

* * *

"Patrick was fine yesterday, and he died overnight. Two people died that quick?" Carol asked as we sat around the table in the library for our meeting, "We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed."

"That's everyone in that cell block. That's all of us. Maybe more." Daryl pointed out

"We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" Hershal asked

"We can't just wait and see. And there's children. It isn't just the illness. If people die, they become a threat." Carol says and I look at her, she's changed a lot since she lost her daughter

"We need a place for them to go. They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there to clean it up." Hershal mentions

"We can use cell block A." I point out

"Death row? I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade." Glenn said

"It's clean. That's an upgrade. Think that'll work for Dr. S?" Daryl asked Hershal

"I'll help Caleb get it set up."

We hear a woman coughing and we all stand up and head to the door, "You okay?" I hear Tyresse ask and watch as him and Karen walk by

"Mm-hmm."

"You sure? You don't sound so good." Carol tells them walking out the door

"We're just taking her back to my cell so she can rest."

"Tyresse, I don't think that's a good idea." Hershal says to him

"Why? What's going on now?" Karen asked

"We think it's a flu or something. That's how Patrick died." Glenn replied

"Judith is in that cell block. She's vulnerable. Anyone that may be sick or even exposed should stay away." I said to her

"It killed Patrick?"

"She's gonna be okay. Now that we know what Patrick died from we can treat it, right?" Tyresse asked as well

"Don't panic. We're going to figure this out. But we should keep you separated in the meantime. We'll have Caleb take a look at you. I'll see what we have in the way of medications." Hershal says

"David from the Decatur group, he's been coughing, too." Karen tells us

"I'll get him. There's some empty clean cells in the tombs, right?" Glenn asked Sasha as he walked away

"Yeah, we'll meet you there."

"Okay. Come on. Let's get you settled." I tell Karen putting my arm around her shoulder following Glenn.

* * *

"Rick! Daryl!" Maggie yelled at them as the walkers started piling up on the fence, I grabbed a crowbar and started killing them when Rick and Daryl came over

"The noise drew 'em out and now this part's starting to give." I tell them then go back to killing them

"Are you seeing this?" Sasha asked from next to me and I followed her gaze, I saw dead rats on the ground in front of the gate, "Is someone feeding these things?"

"Heads up." Daryl warned as the fence started to bend more

"This part of the fence, now!" Sasha says and we stab more

"Hold on, hold on. Hey, hey, hey." Rick yells and we stand back

"It's gonna give! It's gonna give!" Glenn says and we start pushing on the fence holding it although I'm not sure what good it's gonna do

"Everybody back! Come on, back, now." Daryl yells and grabs my arm pulling me back

"The fence keeps bending in like that, those walkers are coming over it." I point out

"Daryl, get the truck." Rick tells him and I look at him, "I know what to do."

* * *

I stand in the court yard looking down at Rick and Daryl, who was driving the truck in the field, as Rick took the pigs and dropped them out there. It was horrible yes, but it drew them away for now. I watched as Daryl drove back through the gate and I cleared my throat trying to get rid of the tickle that I've had since earlier.

 **A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying it so far, I'm sorry the chapters are so short but I'll try to make them longer.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Surviving the Dead**

"You found them like this?" Rick asked Tyresse who was standing over the charred remains of Karen and David

"I came to see Karen... and I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them. Somebody dragged them out here and set them on fire. They killed them and set them on fire!" He yelled and moved to Rick, "You're a cop. You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me. You understand? You bring 'em to me!"

"We'll find out who-" Daryl started to say moving to pull him away but Tyreese cut him off still facing Rick

"I need to say it again?"

"No. No. I know what you're feeling. I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous."

"Karen didn't deserve this. David didn't deserve it. Nobody does." Tyreese says and Daryl moved over to him again

"All right, man, let's-" He put his hand on Tyreese but he spins around and pins Daryl to the gate, me, Rick and Carol move forward but Daryl held his hand up to us

"Man, I ain't going nowhere till I find out who did this!"

"We're on the same side, man." Daryl reassured him

"Hey, look, I know what you're going through. We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down." Rick tells him slowly putting his hand on Tyesse who then whipped around and pushed Rick

"You need to step the hell back!"

"She wouldn't want you being like this." Rick says and Tyresse punched him in the face

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Carol shouted moving over to Rick but Tyresse punched him again

"Tyresse stop!" I yell at him stepping in front of Rick but Tyreese shoved me out of the way and I landed on the ground, I see Daryl jump at him wrapping his arms around him

"That's enough. That's enough." Daryl tells him and Rick gets up and punches Tyresse in the face, Tyresse falls to the ground then Rick kicks him and starts punching him again

"Rick." Daryl says moving over to him grabbing him, "Stop."

"Let go of me!" Rick yells and I stand up moving over to Tyresse, "Let go of me!" Rick yelled again shoving Daryl off, Tyresse starts to cry and I put my hand on his shoulder rubbing it and I look at Daryl.

* * *

I walked over to the graves seeing Tyresse digging a hole, "Let's get you cleaned up, man. You might even need a couple stitches." I tell him squatting next to the hole

"Not until they're in the ground." He says still digging the hole

"You should at least let Hershel or Dr. S take a look at you, make sure nothing's broken." I said and he looks at me

"When they're in the ground." He said and continued digging, I sighed standing up then grabbed a shovel and started digging as well, "I'm sorry." I look at him confused and he looked at me, "I'm sorry I shoved you."

"Please, like your the first man to push me down?" I said with a smile and I saw he lips twitch a little, "I'm sorry about Karen, you're right, they didn't deserve this." I tell him and he nodded and we went back to digging the holes.

* * *

"It's spread. Everyone who survived the attack in cell block D. Sasha, Caleb, and now others." Hershel tells me, Carol, Glenn, Daryl and Michonne who was standing away from us

"Oh, Jesus." I said

"So what do we do?" Carol asked him

"First things first. Cell block A is isolation. We keep the sick people there like we tried with Karen and David."

"What the hell we gonna do about that?" Daryl asked and I looked at him but my mind kind of went hazy listening to them

"Ask Rick to look into it. Try to make a timeline- who's where when. But what are we gonna do to stop this?" Carol asked

"There is no stopping it. You get it, you have to go through it." Hershel replied

"But it just kills you?" Michonne asked him

"The illness doesn't. The symptoms do. We need antibiotics.

"We've been through every pharmacy nearby. And then some." Daryl tells him

"That veterinary college at West Peachtree Tech, that's one place people may not have thought to raid for medication. The drugs for animals there are the same we need."

"That's 50 miles. Too big a risk before. Ain't now. I'm gonna take a group out. Best not waste any more time." Daryl said standing up

"I'm in." Michonne says

"You haven't been exposed. Daryl has. You get in a car with him..." Hershel started to tell her

"He's already given me fleas." She says and I gave a light chuckle

"I can lead the way. I know where everything's kept." Hershel tells us standing up and I slowly follow

"When we're out there, it's always the same. Sooner or later we run." Daryl mentioned to him, Hershel may have a fake leg now but he's not as quick as he was before

"I can draw you a map. There are other precautions I feel we should take."

"Like what?" I asked Hershel holding myself on the back of the chair and I see Daryl glance at me

"There's no telling how long it'll be before Daryl and his group return. Wouldn't it make sense for us to separate the most vulnerable? We can use the administration building. Separate office, separate room."

"Who is the most vulnerable?" Glenn asked him

"The very young."

"What about the old?" Glenn asked again

* * *

"Son of a bitch is about a quart low." Daryl tells me and Michonne checking the oil in Zack's old car

"You still keep it in the bottom of tower three?" Michonne asked him

"Yeah."

"I'll go get one." She says and starts to walk away

"Hey." Daryl called to her and she looked at him, "I'm glad you're here."

"Where else would I be?"

"Running off." He tells her

"You know I'm not running off." She tells him and he nods his head, "So it's just gonna be me and you like in the old days?"

"Yeah, and Bob. Still, feels like we could use another person."

"Who else isn't sick?" She asked looking at me then back at Daryl

"We don't ask Rick. He wants to stay here with Carl and Little Ass-Kicker. Keep them safe. Plus there's plenty of stuff he could do here."

"So who else we got?" She asked, "Sam?"

"I think I'm gonna sit this one out, I can help out here more then out there." I told her and Daryl looks at me

"Alright, I'll go grab that for you." She tells Daryl and walked away

"You alright?" Daryl asked me and I nodded

"I'm good" I said moving from the wall but at soon as I did it hit me, everything went double and Daryl moved to me

"Whoa hey easy."

"I'm ok" I tell him but as I went to move again I stumbled and he wrapped his arms around me

"Sam!" He yelled and I blacked out

* * *

 **Daryl POV...**

"Oh, there you are." I said to Tyresse when I see him standing at the doors over A block, Samantha was in there now after she fainted, now not only did I need to get these meds for other people but for her too, she's my baby sister, "Took me damn near forever to find you. Whatcha doing?" I asked him

"Somebody needs to stand watch."

"Man, I want to find them, too. Put a bolt in them for what they did." I tell him and I hear faint coughing, "These people are cut off. Ain't no way anyone's getting in and out without a whole bunch of people seeing 'em."

"Sasha's in there. I ain't going nowhere."

"Look man my sister is in there too and standing guard ain't gonna do no good unless we come back with them meds." I say and he turns back to the door, "All right. We're gassing up by the front gate in case you change your mind." I tell him and walked away

* * *

I walked over to a window that looked into the cell block and I saw Samantha standing there, "How you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay I guess." She tells me, stubborn as ever, "I'm staying up at the top level far away from everyone, I'm not as sick as them."

"You should rest."

"I will. Heading out?" She asked then coughed a little

"Mmhm." I told her and looked down

"Daryl" She said and I looked up at her, "I'll be fine, as long as you can get back here with the meds for all of us."

"Just don't want to lose ya." I said and she put her hand to the glass

"Ain't gonna lose me, I'm to tough for that." She says and I give a half smile, "I love you big brother."

"Me too sis, get some rest."

* * *

 **Samantha POV...**

I laid down on the bed in A block trying to rest, I felt like I was hungover without the actual drinking part. Whenever I got sick as a kid Daryl took care of me, especially after our mom died, Merle always told me to suck it up and pulled Daryl away from me to go hang out.

I was brought out of my thoughts when there was a knock on my cell door, I moved my head and saw Hershel standing there, "Here, Elderberry tea it'll bring the fever down." He says handing me the cup and moved away

"Thank you." I tell him and take a drink, it was gross but hey if it helped I'm all for it, "How's everyone else?"

"Some are better then others"

"Glenn? Sasha?" I asked

"They hanging in there, just worry about getting better." He told me and I took another drink then coughed

"Yes sir." I said with a smile and he returned it

"Drink up, your brother will be back before you know it" He says and leaves

* * *

 **Daryl POV...**

We walked into the tech building and I raised my crossbow slowly opening the door, when I saw it was clear I motioned for the others to follow and we entered a lab, "All right let's make this quick" I tell them and we spread out grabbing supplies then heading out of the room.

"How'd you do?" Bob asked me and Tyresse when we walked into the room they were in

"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors. Everything on the list." Tyresse tells him

"What about y'all?" I asked them

"Yeah, we got it all." Bob answered

"Yeah. We're good." Michonne adds

"All right, let's roll." I tell them grabbing my crossbow and we made our way down the hall, we near another room and I hear snarling, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." I said softly and the walker spotted us so we rushed away

"Up ahead." Michonne says as we move forward and go around a corner and entered a dark room

"Hey! Door's busted." Bob whispered and I walked over

"Oh. Hold up." I tell him going to the door latching it as best as I can when walkers started banging on it

"There." I hear Michonne say as she points her flash light towards a stair case, we walk towards it when a walker pops up but Tyresse kills it. Michonne tries the chain on the door when suddenly walkers bang up against it

"How many?" I asked her shining my light through the door

"I can't tell."

"We can take 'em." Tyresse says as the walkers from the other side manage to

"No! They're infected. Same as at the prison. We fire at 'em, get their blood on us, breathe it in. We didn't come all this way to get sick." Bob tells him

"How do we know the ones in there aren't any different?"

"We don't." Michonne replied

"Well, it's gotta change sometime." I said and kicked a table breaking the leg off and Michonne takes out her sword, "Ready?" I asked them

"Do it!" Tyresse yells and I break the chain letting the other walkers in and we start killing them, luckily there was only 3 of them

"Come on." I say grabbing my crossbow and we make our way up the stairs

* * *

We enter another hall and see a walker down it and go the other way only to run into more, we come to the end of the hall and Michonne trys the door but it's locked

"Back." I tell her moving to kick it but it wont budge

"Don't have an exit." Michonne points out and I see a window and climb onto the wall ledge

"Then we make one."

"Get down!" Tyresse yells and throws a fire extinguisher at it breaking the glass

"Come on, move it! Jump down to the walkway below." I ordered helping Michonne up and she went out the window, followed by Tyresse, then me then Bob who jumped out and fell down with his bag hanging over the side and some walkers start to grab it.

"Bob, let it go." Michonne tells him

"Let it go, man. Just let it go." Tyresse says trying to pull him up

"Let go of the bag, man." I tell him as well but Bob manages to get it free pulling it up and it hit the roof, I hear a loud thunk as it does, I walk over to it and see a whiskey bottle, "You got no meds in your bag? Just this?" I asked him holding up the bottle and he just stared at me, "You should have kept walking that day." I said and went to throw the bottle

"Don't." He says and I see his hand on his gun I walk up to him pissed as hell and get right on his face, my sister is laying in the prison sick and could be dying or dead and this kid wants to shoot me over some whiskey, I grab his gun from him and stay in his face then grabbed his shirt.

"Just let it go, Daryl. The man's made his choice. Nothing you can do about it. Just gotta let it go." Tyresse says to me and I let Bob go

"I didn't want to hurt nobody. It was just for when it gets quiet." Bob says

I push the bottle into his chest, "Take one sip before those meds get in our people or my sister, I will beat your ass into the ground. You hear me?" I asked him and walked away

* * *

 **Samantha POV...**

I maybe slept for what felt like 2 hours when I woke up in a coughing fit, I put my hand to my mouth and when I pulled it away I saw a little blood on it

"Oh god"


	4. Chapter 4

**Surviving the Dead**

"Henry I need you to calm down, we're trying to help" Hershel tells him as me and Glenn help get the air bag tool into his throat and Hershel started squeezing it to get air into Henry's lungs, I couldn't help but cough and Hershel looked at me, "Drink some of that. Both of you. Some council meeting, huh?"

"We're two members short." I told him then took a drink of my tea

"I think we should make some new rules before they get back. I hereby declare we have spaghetti Tuesdays every Wednesday," He says and I raised my eyebrow at him, "First we have to find some spaghetti." he adds and I couldn't help but give a small smile, "You okay to take over?" He asked me and I nodded, "Every five to six seconds, squeeze. You start feeling lightheaded, grab somebody else to take over. We'll take it in shifts. You want to help me go on my rounds?" He asked Glenn

"Yeah."

* * *

"Come on. Come on, Sasha. You know how to fight. Just hold on. Just hold on. Don't give up on me, now." I hear Heshel say and I slowly walk over to where he is kneeling next to her.

"How can I help?" I asked him and he turned to face me

"Get her on her side" He answered and I used the wall to brace myself and got down turning her on her side

* * *

After he worked on her I put a pillow under her head as she laid on the ground in her cell and she slowly started to open her eyes

"Welcome back." Hershel said to her

"I passed out?"

"You were dehydrated. Being a hero takes a lot out of you." He told her

"You should know. I thought you were an idiot to come in here. I mean, I was sure you were just gonna be a dead foolish man." She tells him and I gave a light chuckle

"I can't tell if that's a compliment."

"I don't know what I'm saying. I must have hit my head. I don't believe in magic or luck. I do the math and I don't gamble. But I don't know if I'd be here right now if you weren't so damn stupid." She says

"You know what? I'm gonna take that as a compliment."

I was laying down in my bed when I heard screaming then shortly after a gunshot, I got out of the bed as quickly as I could then made my way out and looked over the railing to see two walkers down below and one had Hershel to the ground. I headed to the stairs and made my way down with my body on autopilot, I grabbed the walker on Hershel and killed it, he slowly sat up and I went to the one that was attacking another guy and killed it as well. I looked at Hershel as he stood up and we both looked up to see Lizzie leading one away.

Hershel went up the stairs and I walked over to the guy that was just attacked and stabbed his head when I hear Lizzie scream. I made my way up the stairs to see Hershel throw Henry onto the wire net that was there.

"You okay?" He asked her and I walked over

"I called him nice. He didn't scratch Glenn. I thought maybe he listens."

"Lizzy, where is Glenn?" Hershel asked

"His cell." She replies and I move to Glenn's cell to see him on the floor then Hershel comes in

"Hold on Glenn, hold on." He tells him, "Samantha get him on his side." He tells me and walks away again

* * *

I hear shots go off then Glenn started gagging and wheezing, "Hershel!" I yelled and he came back in

"Hold on, Glenn. We have something. We still have it." He says and walks out after a few minutes Maggie rushes in and holds Glenn's head

"He's turning blue!" She yelled at Hershel

"Clear his airway. I'm on the way." He says then comes into the cell, "Roll him on his back." We do so and Glenn keeps gagging, "Hold his arms down." He tells us and Maggie holds one side while I hold the other, "Come on, son. Come on. You know how this works. Just relax. Stay with us. Stay with us..." He says to Glenn and inserts the tube into his throat and pumps the bag, "Stay with us." The gasping stops and Glenn relaxes, I sigh in relief and lean back against the bed

"You're gonna be okay. We're gonna be okay." Maggie tells him and smiles at me

"I didn't want you in here." Hershel said to her

"I know. I had to. Just like you. Daddy."

I see Lizzie walk over to the cell and Hershel looks at her, "I told you to stay put."

"Is it over?" She asked and I stood up moving over to her

"I hope so, honey." I say putting my hand on her shoulder

* * *

 **Daryl's POV...**

We pull up to the prison and before Michonne stopped the van Tyresse opens the door and we see Rick standing there.

"Sasha? How's Sasha?" Tyresse asked him

"I don't know, I'm sorry."

"Get in there we got this" I tell him and he runs to the prison, "Sammie?" I asked Rick

"I-I'm not sure. Go." He tells me and I nod running after Tyresse.

I reached the block and saw Sammie shutting a cell door then she turned and saw me, "Well there's timing." She said with a weak smile and I went to move towards her wrapping her in my arms, "You could get sick."

"Don' care." I tell her and she hugs me back, "I love you baby sis" I tell her and she looks at me

"I love you too big brother."

* * *

"How's Glenn doing?" Tyresse asked Hershel as we got out of the truck hauling our dead

"He made it through the night. He's breathing on his own now. Maggie and Bob are with him. He seems stable enough for me to get some air."

"He's a tough son of a bitch." I tell him

"He is."

"You're a tough son of a bitch." I said as well

"I am, your sister is tough to, must be genetic." He tells me and I smile a little

"How about Carol? She up in A block with Lizzy?" I asked him

"No. Talk to Rick about her." He said and I look at him confused, "She's okay, just talk to him."

* * *

"Man, you couldn't have waited till we got back?" I asked Rick as I paced

"Until Tyreese got back?" He asked me

"I could've handled that." I tell him

"Hey. Hey. She killed two of our own. She couldn't be here. What if would have been Sam?" He asked me and I looked at him, that was a low blow, "She's gonna be all right. She has a car, supplies, weapons. She's a survivor."

"Stop saying that like you don't believe it."

"She did it. She said it was for us. That's how it was in her head. She wasn't sorry." He says

"Man, that's her, but that ain't her. What are we supposed to do about those two girls?" I asked him

"I told her we'd look after them. I haven't told Tyresse yet. I don't know how he's gonna take it."

"Let's go find out." I tell him

* * *

 **Samantha's POV...**

I was feeling a whole lot better now that we got the medicine we needed and I walked into Glenn's cell, "How are you feelin'?" I asked sitting next to him

"Better, you?"

"Tons, Hershel said I should be able to leave here today." I tell him and he smiled

"Lucky you, must be the Dixon blood." He says and I smile

"Must be. You get some rest now that way you can get out of here too." I stand up and walk out of his cell as Maggie walks back with some water, I give her a smile putting my hand on her arm and walked out

* * *

I was in my cell and as I finished changing there was an explosion, I quickly made my way out of the prison and met up with the others at the fence looking out into the field to see the Governor there with a tank and some people.

"Rick! Come down here. We need to talk."

"It's not up to me. There's a council now. They run this place." Rick told him

"Is Hershel on the council?" He asked and I see Hershel get brought out and forced to kneel on the ground, I looked at Maggie and Beth as they started to panic and put my hand on Beth's shoulder, "What about Michonne? She on the council, too?" He asked again and I saw Michonne get brought out as well

"I don't make decisions anymore."

"You're making the decisions today, Rick. Come down here. Let's... Let's have that talk." The Governor tells him

I see Rick and Daryl exchange a look then Rick looks at Carl putting his hand on his head, "We can do this. All right?" He whispers to him and Carl nods his head, Rick heads towards the gate walking out and I put my hand on Carl's shoulder

"We can't take 'em all on. We'll go through the admin building, through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more. When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?" Daryl asked

"Day before we hit the Big Spot. We were running low on rations then. We're lower now." Sasha tells him

"Yeah, we'll manage. Things go south, everyone heads for that bus. Let everybody know. " He says and looks at me.

"What if everybody doesn't know when things go bad? How long do we wait?" Tyresse asked him

"As long as we can." He moves over to me, "Go get everyone and tell them to prepare then get on the bus."

I shook my head, "No I'm staying here."

"Sammie-"

"No Daryl, we already lost Merle I ain't losing you too." I said and he hesitated then nodded

"Stay by me."

"Let 'em go right now. I'll stay down here. Talk as long as you want. But you let 'em go. You got a tank. You don't need hostages." I hear Rick say and I look down at them

"I do. This is just to show you I'm serious. Not to blast a hole in our new home. You and your people, you have till sundown to get out of here or they die."

"Doesn't have to go down this way." Rick says

"I got more people, more firepower. We need this prison. There it is."

"It's not about the past. It's about right now. There are children here. Some of them are sick. They won't survive." Rick pleaded

"I have a tank. And I'm letting you walk away from here. What else is there to talk about?" The Governor asked him and Daryl wheels the gun cart over to us handing them out then gives me one, I aim mine through the fence and wait.

* * *

"I could shoot you all. You'd all shoot back. I know that. But we'll win and you'll be dead. All of you."

"Doesn't have to be like that." Rick tells him

"Like I said, it's your choice." I see a walker get closer to them and the Governor shoots it, "Noise will only draw more of them over. The longer you wait, the harder it will be for you to get out of here."

"We got to do something." Carl said to Daryl from next to him

"Your dad's got it."

"They're talking, we could kill the Governor right now." Carl points out

"From 50 yards?" I asked him

"I'm a good shot. I could end this right now."

"Yeah, or you could start something else. You got to trust him." Daryl said

"You got maybe about an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing. The longer you wait, the harder it's gonna be for you to get out of here." The Governor says to Rick and I focus my scope on him

"We can all- we can all live together. There's enough room for all of us." Rick pleaded

"More than enough. But I don't think my family would sleep well knowing that you were under the same roof."

"We'd live in different cell blocks. We'd never have to see each other till we're all ready." Rick adds

"It could work. You know it could." I hear Hershel say

"It could've. But it can't. Not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea." The Governor said and I tightened the grip on my gun, I was never really close to Andrea, but that doesn't mean I wasn't sad about her death

"Look, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. Fact is, it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder than standing here shooting at each other. But I don't think we have a choice." Rick says to him

"We don't. You do."

"We're not leaving. You try and force us, we'll fight back. Like you said, the gunshots will just bring more of them out. They'll take down the fences. Without the fences, this place is worthless. Now, we can all live in the prison or none of us can." Rick tells him and the Governer gets off the take and grabs Michonne's sword from a guy moving over to Hershel holding it at his neck and I clenched my jaw

"You. You in the ponytails. Is this what you want? Is this what any of you want?" Rick asked the other people

"What we want is what you got. Period. Time for you to leave, asshole." The guy in the tank tells him

"Look, I fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends. They've become leaders in what we have here. Now you put down your weapons, walk through those gates... you're one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone. We get to come back. I know... we all can change." Rick tells him and the Governor moves the sword away from Hershel's neck but then looks at Rick

"Liar." He says and swings the sword to Hershel's neck slicing it

"No!" Rick shouted and fired his gun

"Ah!" I screamed and fired mine along with Daryl and Carl and the others shot back

"Daddy!" I hear Beth yell and I continued shooting killing a couple of people then the tank started to move forward going through the fence, Daryl grabs my arm and we move over to a part of the fence that was boarded by wood and continue firing.

"Get to the bus!" Daryl tells me

"No! I'm staying!" I said and continued as the tank got into the yard, I killed a couple more people when it fired hitting more of the prison. As Daryl reloaded I covered him and suddenly a walker appears next to me, I stopped shooting and grabbed on of Daryl's bolts killing it, he takes the walker and moves forward.

"Stay here!" He says and I cover him, the other guys shoot his walker and he drops it, more walkers appear behind me and I fire at them as well then back at the others, "Sammie get to that bus now!" He ordered

"Not without you!" I tell him

"Damn it I don't have time to argue now go!"

I hesitated and looked at him, "You better be right behind me or I'm coming back here and dragging you out!" I tell him and make my way to the bus firing my gun at the same time, when I got to the spot where the bus was I saw that it had left and I felt my heart sink, I looked back and saw Daryl and Beth running, I went to move towards them but walkers blocked me and I went the other direction towards the field, I saw a truck there and a guy behind the door, I shot him and got in driving it away. I looked back at the prison and saw the flames and smoke, our home was gone and right now I needed to find my brother.


	5. Chapter 5

**Surviving the Dead**

 **A/N: Please feel free to leave positive or negative feedback, I forgot to mention that in the first chapter but ultimately enjoy the story. Now I'm skipping ahead going into season 6, I was gonna gonna do some more of season 4 but I wanted to get the ball going on this.**

A month, maybe 2, I'm not sure how long it's been since the prison had been destroyed, since I got separated from my brother. I ran out of fuel on the truck I took that day and since then it's been car after car, I had seen signs for a place called Terminus on the train tracks, I followed them because odds were Daryl would be there too, but when I got close it was up in flames and over run by walkers so I left. I had no idea where to go now, I ended up walking through the woods and came upon a church that looked like it had been broken and protected. I walked in and saw blood on the floor making my way to the alter when I stepped on something, I looked down and saw a map, I picked it up and just about fell over when I saw what was written on it.

 _Sorry, I was an asshole_  
 _Come to Washington, the new world's gonna need_ _Rick Grimes_

I dropped the map and ran out of the church, where ever Rick was Daryl had to be with him right? I managed to find my way back to the road and found a few cars, siphoning whatever I could out of them into another one and left.

After a week of the same thing, I finally made it to Washington, now I didn't know where the hell to go but at least I was closer to my family then I was before. I ended up finding a gas station to crash in, I blocked the doors and barricaded myself behind the counter. After the night had past and I was rested I moved the stuff away from the doors only to have a couple walkers come in, I quickly killed them and made my way out, I ran down the road running into a small herd, I checked my gun.

"Shit." I mumbled, I only had 5 bullets against 12 walkers, I could try and take them but I couldn't risk it. One came up to me and I killed it backing away but I tripped over something and fell. A walker fell on top of me but my knife was knocked out of my hand when I fell, I was losing my grip on the walker when suddenly it was knocked off me and killed, I looked up and saw a man standing there with long brown hair, wool hat, leather jacket and a cloth covering his mouth. He reached his hand out and I hesitated but grabbed it, we looked at the walkers and decided to run, we reached a safe place in the woods and I leaned against a tree catching my breath.

"Thank you" I said to the man and he looked at me

"No problem, what's your name?" He asked

"Samantha Dixon. You?"

"Paul Rovia, but my friends used to call me Jesus."

* * *

"Hey Jesus" I called after him catching up, "Going on the run?"

"Yeah, we need some more supplies before they come."

"Need an extra hand?" I asked him, it's been 2 weeks since I met Paul and he brought me to a place called the Hilltop, an old plantation house that was surrounded by a tall and sturdy wood fence.

"No I got it, plus I thought you were gonna go hunting."

"I thought about it but I haven't seen anything in 2 days." I tell him and he smiled, if Daryl would never have taught me how to track and hunt I wouldn't have survived for as long as I did.

"Never say never Samantha." He says and I smile, he's the only one that calls me Samantha, everyone here calls me Sam, Daryl always calls me Sammie. Daryl...I still tried my hardest to find him whenever I could but having no idea where he could be was an issue

"Alright well be safe out there and remember keep an eye out for-"

"Anything chocolate I know." He finished for me and I lightly pushed him, since he brought me here we grew pretty close, the man who runs this place Gregory, little chicken shit if you ask me, wasn't to happy with Paul bringing me here saying it was one more mouth to feed. Paul defended me, I also kind of started to like Jesus, more then I should.

"You be safe too." He said and headed out the gate.

* * *

 **Daryl POV...**

"Hey." I called to Denise, the doctor in Alexandria

"Yes?"

"This thing at the bottom right here. You're talking about the drink, right?" I asked her pointing to the list she gave me

"I am, but..."

"It's not medical." I brought up

"No, I drew a line between the important stuff and that. I just figured, if you saw it." She tells me

"All right."

"Anything remotely medical is a priority. And food, maybe even food before medicine, and gas or batteries or books for the kids or clothes is just- if you see it, if it just happens to, you know, be right there." She says

"You like it, right?" I asked her

"No, I don't drink pop." She tells me and I look at her confused

"What the hell's pop?"

"Oh, I'm originally from Ohio." She points out

"Why you want it?"

"Tara was talking about it in her sleep, I think. Either she likes it or she doesn't, but if she likes it, it'd be a really nice surprise. I'm not good with that kind of stuff, and she and Heath are going on that two-week run. I just thought it'd be a nice going-away present. Just, uh, don't go out of your way. And if it gives you any trouble..." She starts to say but I cut her off

"I won't."

"Okay, good, 'cause it's not important. I should've said so instead of just drawing a line." She mentioned

"Got it."

* * *

"Today's the day." Rick tells me as we drive down the road

"Uh-huh." I mumbled looking out the window, 2 months, it's been 2 months since I lost Sammie, I don't know if she was alive or dead. Everything in me hoped that she was alive and that maybe I might find her

"We're gonna find food, maybe some people. The law of averages has gotta catch up." Rick said to me bringing me out of my thoughts

"I don't know. We ain't seen nobody for weeks. Maybe we ain't gonna find nobody. Maybe that's a good thing."

"I know it's been hard for you, losing Sam, if she's anything like you I'm sure she's still out there." He reassured me and I nodded then I see him reach for a CD

"Don't. Don't. Please don't." I begged but he put it in

 _Give me the downbeat, maestro._  
 _I want to lay it on the line_  
 _'Cause everything I do, I wanna do it in double time_  
 _When I take a ride.._

"Draws 'em away from home!" He tells me over the music

 _Hear me? Action-packed_  
 _Well, if your music's gonna move me_  
 _Well, I just gotta feel the beat..._

* * *

"Hey, hold up. It's best to be safe. You cover it?" I asked him as we stand in front of a shed that said Sorghum on the door, I lifted it up and Rick moved to check it

"Yeah. Yeah, we're good. One more time?" He asked indicating to the cube van and I reached for the lock

"It ain't locked." I point out and open it revealing a bed full of supplies

"Well, how about that? The law of averages. Let's get this thing going, grab our gear, come back for the car later. Take another way back. See what we can see."

"Think it'll start?" I asked him shutting the door

"Yeah, I do. Sorghum."

As we drove down another road we came across a gas station and stopped, we got out and I went to the doors checking them then saw a tipped over vending machine, "Yo, give me a hand with this. Ahem. Let's flip it over." I tell him and we start to lift but have no success

"I don't think we got it."

"I got an idea." I tell him and grab a chain hooking it to both the machine and the truck then whistle for Rick to pull forward, the machine lifts up and I stop him

"It's soda and candy. Why the trouble?" Rick asked walking back over as I reach in grabbing some stuff

"It wasn't any trouble." I tell him and suddenly someone bumps into him

"Hi."

"Back up! Now!" I warn the man holding my gun up at him and Rick does as well

"Keep 'em up!"

"Whoa, easy, guys. I was just running from the dead." He tells us

"How many?" I asked

"10, maybe more. I'm not risking it. Once it gets to double digits, I start running."

"Where?" I asked him

"About a half a mile back. They're headed this way. You probably have about 11 minutes."

"Okay, thanks for letting us know." Rick says lowering his gun

"Yeah. There's more of them than us, right? Gotta stick together. Right?" He asked looking at me and I hesitated but lowered my gun, "You have a camp?" He asked us

"No."

"Do you?" Rick asked him

"No. Sorry for running into you. I'm gonna go now. If this is the next world, I hope it's good to you guys." He said and started to walk away

"I'm Rick. This is Daryl." Rick tells him and the guy stops and looks at us giving a weird look, "What's your name?"

"Paul Rovia." He said lowering the cloth covering his face, "But my friends used to call me Jesus. Your pick."

"You said you didn't have a camp. You on your own?" Rick asked

"Yeah. But, still, best not to try anything."

"Best not to make threats you can't keep, either." I tell him

"Exactly." He starts to run away

"How many walkers-" Rick started to ask but I stopped him

"No, not this guy."

"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked anyways but the guy kept going

"Sorry, gotta run. You should, too. Think you've got about seven minutes." He said and continued running

"What the hell was that?" I asked Rick

"He was clean. His beard, it was trimmed. There's more going on there."

"He didn't have a gun, either." I point out

"We could track him, watch him for a while, get to know more. See if he's really alone. Maybe bring him back."

"Nah, guy calls himself Jesus." I tell him and we hear a popping sound from behind us so we move around the building with our guns raised only to find fireworks that went off

"Firecrackers." Rick said

"He swiped your keys, didn't he?" I asked and he feels his pockets

"Oh, shit!" We ran back around the building and saw the guy in the truck start to drive away

"Sorry!"

"Shit." Rick says as we watch it drive away

* * *

We run as fast as we can after the truck hoping to catch up, we stop for a moment and I reach into the vending machine that fell off the chain and grab out the soda I found for Denise.

"This was a special request from the doctor." I tell him taking a drink then handing it to Rick

"Hey, whatever she wants. She saved Carl's life. We didn't know her, and she turned out to be all right. If there's still people out here, and they're still people, we should bring 'em in."

"What, like this guy?" I asked him taking another drink

"No, fuck this guy."

"We still got a trail." I tell him

"Let's go." and we start running again

* * *

As we continue running I see tire marks and I point to them, I motion for Rick to crouch down and we look up the hill seeing the guy and the truck, he must have been changing the tire or something, we move through the woods to get around him without being seen. As he shuts the back Rick tackles him wrapping his arms around the guy.

"Hold still and maybe we won't hurt you."

"Sure thing." I hear grunting and saw the guy come out from behind the truck, I went to punch him but he ducked then pushed me against the truck and Rick knocks him to the ground and we point our guns at him.

"This is done." Rick said and we hear growling

"Do you even have any ammo?" The guy asked and we pointed our guns up both shooting the walker, "Okay. You gonna shoot me over a truck?"

"There's a lot of food on that truck. The keys, now." Rick warns him

"I think you know I'm not a bad guy."

"Yeah? What do you know about us? Give me the keys. This is the last time I'm asking." Rick said and cocked his gun.

"You're gonna leave me here like this?" The guy asked as Rick finished tying his hands and legs, "You're really gonna do that?"

"Eh, the knots aren't that tight. You should be able to get free... after we're long gone."

"Maybe we should talk now." The guy says and I hold a can of soda that exploded in my bag

"Nah. Here." I tell him tossing the can at him, "In case you get thirsty." We get in the truck and Rick starts it, I put my feet on the dash and stick my middle finger up out the window, "So long ya prick!" I yelled and Rick drives away

* * *

"Still worked out. Today still is the day." Rick tells me as we eat a candy bar and I turn the music up

"Hey, look at that." Rick points out the window

"Yeah, a barn." Suddenly there was a loud thump and I turn the radio down, "You hear that?" The thumping continues, "I think that son of a bitch is on the roof."

"Hold on." Rick says hits the brakes hard and the guy falls off the roof, gets up, looks at us then runs, Rick accelerates and I grab the handle opening the door

"Mother-"

"Daryl! Daryl!" Rick calls after me as I chase him on foot

"We came to a conclusion, asshole! I got him!" I tell Rick as I see the walkers that were tied to the trucks break free, the guy runs to the truck opening the door getting in but I grab him and we struggle, "Come here, you little shit!" Suddenly I hear a gun cock and I look at him

"Duck." He tells me and I did then he fired the gun killing a walker that was coming up behind me

"Thanks." I tell him and punched his face, "That's my gun!" I said grabbing it then grabbing him, "Come here!" I start to pull him out of the truck as it rolls backwards and we fall to the ground, the door hits him in the head knocking him out and the truck goes into the water, _Damn it_

"You all right?" Rick asked me coming over

"Yeah. Law of averages. That's bullshit, man. Let's go check them cars, get the hell out of here." I tell him and start to walk

"What about the guy?"

"What about him?" I asked

"Well, he helped you."

"Maybe." I tell him

"He ever pull a weapon on you?" He asked me

"Fine. Let's put him up a tree." I said and grabbed the guys arms dragging him

* * *

Rick was driving the car and I was in the back with the guy, just then Rick jerked the car and the guys head landed on my shoulder, I shrugged him off and gave Rick a glare

"He took a pretty hard hit. Denise needs to look him over." Rick tells me

"Yeah."

"You wouldn't have gone through with it. You wouldn't have left him." He points out

"I would've, right up in a tree. I would've."

"No. I know. Almost as soon as we got to Alexandria, you got it. You saw- you... and Michonne, Glenn, you all tried to tell me. So shut up." He says and jerks the car again causing the guys head to once again land on me, I shoved him off and glared at Rick again, "'Cause I'm finally listening."

* * *

"So, how'd you get out?" Rick asked the guy as he sat at the table after escaping the cell

"One guard can't cover two exits or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked. Entropy comes from order, right?" He asked Rick

"Right."

"I checked out your arsenal. I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. You're well-equipped, but your provisions are low. Very low for the amount of people you have. 54?" He asked

"More than that." Maggie answered

"Well, I appreciate the cookie. My compliments to the chef."

"Yeah, she ain't here." I tell him

"Look, we got off to a bad start. But we're on the same side- the living side. You and Rick had every reason to leave me out there, but you didn't. I'm from a place that's a lot like this one. Part of my job is searching out other settlements to trade with. I took your truck because my community needs things, and both of you looked like trouble. I was wrong. You're good people. And this is a good place. I think our communities may be in a position to help each other." He informed us

"Do you have food?" Glenn asked him

"We've started to raise livestock. We scavenge, we grow. Everything from tomatoes to sorghum."

"Tell us why we should believe you." Rick says to him

"I'll show you. If we take a car, I can take you back home in a day, and you can all see for yourselves who we are and what we have to offer."

"Wait, you're looking for more settlements. You mean you're already trading with other groups?" Maggie asked him

"Your world's about to get a whole lot bigger."

* * *

"Here." Denise says to me handing me something, "Homemade oat cake. Complex carbohydrates, omega-3s."

"Nah, I'm good. We're gonna make a pit stop. I'll pick up something then." I tell her finishing up the RV

"Like rabies?"

"Is this 'cause I tried to get you that stuff?" I asked her

"Yeah. And you remind me of someone I used to know." She says and I grab it from her

"Well... I hope it tastes better than it looks. 'Cause it looks like shit." I tell her putting it in my pocket

"Shit's still better than roadkill. Okay, maybe- just eat it."

Let's chew up some asphalt!" I hear Abraham yell and we loaded into the RV and drove off.

* * *

"Yo, Rick. What's going on?" I asked him as he slowed the RV down

"We got a crash ahead. Looks like it just happened."

"It's one of ours." The guy said exiting the RV and going over to the car

"If this is a trick, it won't end well for you." Rick tells him pointing his gun at the guy

"My people are in trouble. They don't- we don't have a lot of fighters. I know how it looks, but I'll play it out. Can I borrow a gun?" He asked

"No." I tell him and look at the ground, "We got tracks right here."

Rick bangs on the door of the building we followed the tracks to, "They gotta be in there." The guy points out

"We moving in or what?" The guy asked

"How do we know this ain't firecrackers in a trash can?" I asked him walking around to the door

"You don't."

"We'll get your people. You're staying here with one of us. That's the deal." Rick tells him

"Will you stay?" Glenn asked Maggie

"Yeah. Y'all go. Just be careful."

"Yeah. We're gonna be careful." Rick says as he hancuffs the guy

"Just hurry."

"You hear me whistle, shoot him." Rick tells Maggie

"I will."

* * *

Me and Glenn made our way down a hall when a couple walkers pop out, I stab one and Glenn gets the other then we move into a room seeing a man

"Come on. We're with Jesus. Let's go." Glenn tells him

"I can't go with you. I'm looking for my friend. He's close, and he's hurt from the crash."

* * *

"Damn it." Rick says revving the motor, "A storm must've passed through. We're stuck."

"No worries. We're here." The guy tells us and gets out, "That's us. That's the Hilltop." He says and we see a tall wooded fence and walk towards it

"Stop right there." A man yells from the top and we raise our guns but Jesus steps in front of us wit his hands raised

"Whoa!"

"You gonna make us?" I asked the man holding a spear

"Jesus, what the hell is this?"

"Open the gates, Cal. Freddie's hurt." Jesus tells him and looks at us, "Look, sorry about these guys. They get antsy standing up there all day doing nothing."

"They give up the weapons. Then we'll open the gates."

"Why don't you come down here and get 'em?" I asked

"Gentlemen, look, we vouch for these people, all right? They saved us out there." The doctor tells them

"Lower the spears." Jesus ordered

"Look, I'm not taking any chances. Tell your guy Gregory to come out here." Rick says to Jesus

"No. Don't you see what just happened? I'm letting you keep your guns. Look, we ran out of ammo months ago. I like you people. I trust you. Trust us." He says and faces the gate, "Open the gates, Cal." He tells them and they open up and we walk in.

"There was a materials yard for a power company nearby. That's how we put up the walls. A lot of people came from a FEMA camp. Trailers came with them." Jesus informed us

"How did people find out about this place?" Michonne asked him

"That's called Barrington House. The family that owned it gave it to the state in the '30s. The state turned it into a living history museum. Every elementary school for 50 miles used to come here for field trips. The place was running a long time before the modern world built up around it. I think people came here because they figured it'd keep running after the modern world broke down. Those windows up there let us see for miles in every direction. It's perfect for security. Come on. I'll show you inside." Jesus says to us and we start to walk but something stopped all of us.

"Daryl?" I heard my name and turned around, when I did I just about fell over, standing there right in front of me was my sister.

"Sammie?" I asked and she ran to me throwing her arms around my neck and started crying as I returned the hug. I couldn't believe it, I pulled her away putting my hands on her face looking her up and down making sure she was real, "How the hell are you here?" I asked her and she smiled

"It's a long, complicated story" She says and moves to the others hugging everyone except Abraham who she hadn't met, "Wait...what are you guys doing here?" She asked then looked at Jesus then us again.

"I brought them here, they live in a community with houses, brought them here to talk trade with Gregory." Jesus tells her and she looked at him

"You really think he's gonna go for that?" She asked him and he shrugged, that's why he gave us a weird look when we met him.

"Only one way to find out." Jesus tells her and he motioned for us to follow him, Sammie looked at me again and I wiped a tear from her cheek and followed.

"Good gracious, Ignatius." Abraham said in wonder as we walk in

"Most of the rooms have been converted to living spaces. Even the ones that weren't bedrooms."

"People live here and the trailers?" Rick asked

"We plan to build. There's babies being born."

"Jesus. You're back. With guests." A man said walking into the entry way

"Everyone, this is Gregory. He keeps the trains running on time around here." Jesus introduced

"I'm the boss."

"Well, I'm Rick. We have a community-"

"Why don't y'all go get cleaned up, hmm?" Gregory tells him cutting him off

"We're fine."

"Jesus will show you where you can get washed up. Then come back down here when you're ready. It's hard to keep this place clean." Gregory tells him

"Yeah. Sure."

"Follow me." Jesus tells us and everyone follows, I look at Sammie, she gives a small smile and I follow the others

* * *

 **Samantha's POV...**

I stood in the entry way waiting for the others to come back down, I was...beyond excited, here I am standing in the same house as my family whom I had lost, my brother, I needed someone to pinch me because I felt like I was dreaming.

"Hey" Jesus says snapping me out of my thoughts

"Where did you find them?" I asked him

"I ran into Rick and Daryl on the run, they had a truck, I tried to steal the truck, then got knocked out in a fight with Daryl, brought back to their community and well here we are." He tells me and I smile, "As soon as Rick introduced himself and Daryl I put it together, I wanted to bring them back here as soon as I could, not just for the trading but...because it's your family"

I wrapped my arms around him giving him a hug which he returned, I didn't want to let go, not just because of my growing feelings for him but because he brought my brother to me, "Thank you, so much."

"Of course." He said and I hear someone clear their throat, we pulled apart and saw Daryl standing there, "I'll let you two catch up." Jesus said and walked away as Daryl walked over to me and I hugged him again

"I still can't believe your here." I tell him and he hugged me as well

"Same here." He said and we sat down in a chair in the entrance, "What happened after the prison?"

"I saw you and Beth running, I went to go after you but I got blocked by walkers so I went towards the forest and took a truck. I didn't even know where to go until I saw signs for Terminus ut when I got there it was destroyed and full of walkers..."

"It was cannibals" he tells me and I look at him

"Cannibals?"

"Mmhmm they lured people there and...well you know. They got Bob who got bit at a food shelf with Rick and the others, we lost him." He tells me and I put my head down

"Oh my god," I lifted my head and looked at him seeing the look on his face, "Daryl who else?"

"Tyresse...and Beth." He said and I feel tears in my eyes

"Oh no, how's Sasha? Maggie?"

"Sasha's not doing good, she's focusing her grief into rage, Maggie is doing better though." He tells me and I wiped the tears away, "How did you end up here?"

"After I left where Terminus was I ended up in the woods, came across a church, when I went in a saw a map and read what was on it, saw Rick's name, I dropped it and ran out because a part of me new you would be with him. I managed to find car after car to get here, stayed in a gas station for the night then the next day I ran into a small herd. I tripped trying to get away then Jesus saved me from one that landed on me and well he brought me here. He saved my life."

"He never mentioned you being here when we met him." He says

"Well in his defense how was he suppose to know it was you guys I was talking to him about, there's a lot of Rick's and Daryl's in the world" I tell him and he scoffed then pushed me

"I'm glad I found you."

"I'm a Dixon remember? To stubborn to die, even when I was sick." I said and then the others joined us then shortly after Maggie comes out after talking with Gregory, and I wasn't shocked to hear it didn't go well.

"We want to generate trade. Gregory does. But ammo isn't something we urgently need." Jesus tells them

"Well, how's that?" Rick asked

"The walls hold. We just brought in more medicine. Gregory wants the best deal possible."

"Yeah, well, we want things, too." Daryl tells him as he paced

"We need food. We came all this way, we're gonna get it."

"I will talk to him and we will work this out. Circumstances change. We're doing well now, and you will next. I will make him understand that. Can you give me a few days?" Jesus asked them

"We can." Michonne replied

"Yeah." Rick said in agreement, Jesus looked at me and I shrugged then we heard yelling outside and Cal came in

"What's wrong?" Gregory asked him coming out of his study

"They're back."

I looked at Jesus and bit my lip then we headed outside, "Nathan, what happened to everybody else? Where's Tim and Marsha?" Gregory asked him as we walked towards him

"They're dead." _Oh crap_

"Negan?" Gregory asked

"Yeah"

"We had a deal." Gregory tells them

"He said it wasn't enough. Was the drop light?" The one guy asked

"No."

"They still have Craig." The girl told him

"They said they'd keep him alive, return him to us, if I deliver a message to you." Nathan tells Gregory walking up to him

"So, tell me."

"I'm sorry." Nathan said and stabbed Gregory, me, Maggie and Jesus rush over to him as Rick and Michonne pulled Nathan back, "Get off of me! I had to!" He yelled pushing Michonne then went for Rick who brought him to the ground and started punching him, the other guy tried to pull him off but Abraham pushed him away and Rick attacked him again while the other guy started chocking Abraham, then Daryl went over grabbing his arm and almost broke it to get him off, Nathan rolls Rick over and Glenn rushes over, I went to stand up to help but Jesus held me back.

"Stay back! Anybody who tries to stop me is killing my brother!" Nathan shouted at us

"Drop it." Michonne warned him with her hand on her sword then suddenly Rick stabs Nathan in the neck, I close my eyes and look down the when I opened them I saw Rick stand up and look around

"What?" He asked

"Nathan! You killed him." The guy shouted

"He tried to kill Gregory, then me." Rick told him and the girl went over and punched him in the face then Michonne knocked her down

"Don't."

"Drop it now!" The guard tells Rick pointing his spear at him and Jesus moves past me rushing over to them

"I don't think I will."

"Everyone, this is over! It's over. Nathan was our friend, but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us. He did this. And these people stopped him." Jesus tells them

"What can I do?" Rick asked him

"Put the gun away. You've done enough. You need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time." Jesus tells him and walks back over to us as the doctor came over to Gregory.

* * *

"Dr. Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain, but he'll live." Jesus tells us walking into the room we were in standing behind and I moved slightly over

"So, what happens now?" Michonne asked him

"Things like that don't usually happen here, but, uh, it's settled."

"We heard the name Negan. A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men." Rick tells him and I looked at Daryl, "Who is he?"

"Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us- Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him."

"He made the deal." Maggie points out

"Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors." I told them

"And what do you get in return?" Glenn asked

"They don't attack this place. They don't kill us." I replied

"Why not just kill them?" Daryl asked

"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo." Jesus answered

"Well, how many people does Negan have?" Rick asked

"We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20." I tell him

"Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit." Daryl points out

"Well, how do you know?" Jesus asked

"A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles." Abraham said

"You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows." Daryl adds and I shake my head, only him

"Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with." Rick mentions and it was true, Jesus looked at me and I gave a slight nod

"I'll take it to Gregory." Jesus says and leaves, Rick, Michonne, and Glenn left after.

"What's going on with you two?" Daryl asked me walking over

"What do you mean?"

"You and Jesus, what's going on?" He asked and I sighed

"There's nothing going on..." I told him and he looked at me

"Just don't hide your heart." He tells me and I nod, he knew I have always been afraid of letting someone in.

* * *

We started loading up the RV that they came in, Rick walked past me and Jesus as we carried stuff over to it, "Even Negan didn't get this much stuff up front." Jesus tells him and I chuckled

"Trust me," I said as I set the box in the RV then grabbed the one from Jesus, "You don't want to piss Maggie off." I tell him and he smiled, I went to step down but slipped, he quickly caught me and I was an a couple inches away from his face and I moved my eyes from his lips to his eye but then quickly moved away, "Thanks" I tell him and walked away to grab more stuff.

I put the rest in then sat down next to Daryl, "Nervous about seeing everyone?" He asked me and I smiled

"Of course, but I'm also excited." I tell him and he puts his hand on my head then moves it to my shoulder, Maggie and Glenn joined us after and we drove away. As we sat there I glanced at Jesus then looked away when Michonne handed me something, I looked and it was and ultra sound picture, I looked at it then looked at Maggie and Glenn in shock, I handed it to Daryl then got up and hugged them.

"I call dibs on godmother." I whispered in Maggie's ear and she chuckled then I sat back down next to Daryl who handed the picture to Abraham. I meant what I said to Daryl, I was nervous about seeing everyone, Carol, Judith, Sasha, Carl, for all they knew I was dead, now I get the chance to reunite with them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Surviving the Dead**

 **Daryl POV...**

As we drove back to Alexandria I looked over and saw my sister asleep resting her head on my shoulder, I gave a small smile then looked up at Jesus who I saw give a quick glance at her. I still didn't trust this guy but Sammie said he said he saved her and I'll admit, I was grateful.

"Thank you" I grumbled to him and he looked at me

"For what?"

"Savin' her, keeping her safe at the Hilltop." I tell and he nodded his head

"Of course, she's strong, must be in her blood."

I let out a small quiet chuckle and looked back at Sammie, "Yeah, she is," After about 10 minutes we finally reached our gates and I nudged her awake, "We're here sleepy head" I tell and she turned and looked out the window. I knew she was nervous about seeing the others, after everything that had happened they all thought she was dead but never said it out loud because I had a strong feeling she was alive, and here she is.

 **Samantha POV...**

We pulled into Alexandria and I looked out the window, this place...I couldn't even describe it, it was amazing.

"Get Olivia. She should inventory what we have. We'll meet her at the pantry." I hear Rick say out the window to someone

"You have food?" I heard Sasha asked and my heart ached, I couldn't imagine the grief she was going through, I only know how it would feel if I actually lost Daryl.

"I need everybody in the church in an hour." Rick tells her

"What is it?"

"We'll talk about it." He says and starts the engine again

"Rick, what's going on?" I hear another voice ask, oh Carol

"We're gonna have to fight." He answered and drove away heading to the pantry and we got out unloading everything. Then Daryl brought me and Jesus to the house he was staying in and we walked inside

"Wow, swanky" I tell him and he scoffed, just then I hear footsteps come down the stairs and I see a boy who I hadn't seen since the prison, he certainly wasn't a kid anymore and then I noticed the white bandage around his eye

"Daryl where's my..." He stopped when he saw me

"Sam?"

"Hey buddy" I said and he ran over and hugged me, I always thought of Carl as a little brother and it makes me so happy to see him again, "What happened to your eye?"

"I got shot, Denise saved me."

"Kid how many times are you gonna get shot?" I asked him with a smile and he smiled too then a girl walked down the stairs holding a little girl and I just about dropped, "Judith?" I asked and the girl handed her to me, "Oh my...you've gotten so big" I tell her and Carl smiled at us, I looked at Jesus and he was smiling as well, "You really are a little ass kicker ain't ya?" I referred to her by the name Daryl gave her when she was a baby

"Hey Rick says he's..." I heard from the door and I turned around seeing Carol and Sasha standing there.

"Sam? How are you..."

"Hi Carol" I tell her cutting her off and handing Judith to Carl, I walked over to her and she pulled me into a hug, I hugged back and then gave Sasha one, "I'm so sorry Sasha" i whispered in her ear and she nodded then we broke apart.

"How are you here?" Carol asked me and I chuckled

"Long story."

"Well umm Rick's ready for us in the church" Sasha says and we start to head out

"How do feel?" Daryl asked me

"Better now" I said and we walked to the church

* * *

"And we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered out a deal. We're getting food- eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away." Rick tells the people who came to the church, people who I didn't know, and people I did know, I was standing up front next to Jesus who was sitting down. Rick thought it would help in case anyone had questions, "These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham on the road." He tells them and I looked at Daryl, "Now, sooner or later, they would've found us, just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did. They woulda killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece." He finished and everyone stayed quiet until a man in the back stood up, Daryl told me his name was Morgan, the man Rick knew after he woke up in the hospital.

"You're sure we can do it? We can beat them?" Morgan asked him

"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us- yes, I'm sure."

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that." Morgan says and I looked at him confused

"Well, they don't compromise." Rick says

"This isn't a compromise. It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us."

"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety." I tell Morgan and he looks at me, "We have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive."

"Where there's life, there's possibility." Morgan says to me

"Of them hitting us." Rick adds

"We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this."

"Morgan...they always come back." Rick tells him

"Come back when they're dead, too."

"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before." Rick mentioned

"I'm not talking about the walkers."

"Morgan wants to talk to them first. I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?" Rick asked everyone else and another guy stands up

"What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't."

"Looks like it's settled. We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill. But if people are gonna stay here... they do have to accept it." Rick tells them and leaves

"That was interesting" Jesus said to me and I sighed

"Yeah"

* * *

That night I was sitting in the living room on a couch while Jesus slept on the other one across the room, I still couldn't believe everything that has happened today. I got reunited with my brother, the rest of my family, but now what was I gonna do? I became a member of the Hilltop and I've gotten close to the people there, especially Jesus, the man that saved me and who I was having strong feelings for. Then there's this place, where my brother is, I was separated from him for so long and now here he was. I was torn, I wanted to be in both places but I knew I was going to have to pick one. I got brought out of my thoughts when Daryl sat down in front of me on the couch.

"You alright?" He asked and I gave a small nod

"I am, but I'm not. Does that make sense?" I asked giving a small chuckle

"It does, whats going on?"

"Worried about tomorrow, and after that happens where does that leave me?" I asked him

"What do you mean?" He asked me

"Do I stay here with you and the others or do I go back to the Hilltop?"

"I see" He says and looks down

"Daryl, your my brother and I love you. I missed all of you like crazy and I'm so happy we found each other. I just..." I stopped and looked over at Jesus then back at my brother, "I need to figure out what I want."

He looks at me and lightly nodded his head, "I get it, I do. I'll always be there for you no matter what."

"I love you big brother" I tell him and he pulled me into a hug

"I love you too sis. Get some rest, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow"

"Night" I said and he grumbled then headed upstairs

* * *

"Describe it." Rick tells Andy who is drawing the layout of the building for us

"Rectangular building, big satellites on it."

"Any windows?" Rick asked him

"I don't remember any. I think they made it so there's only one way in."

"Guards outside?" I asked him

"Yeah, two of them, at least."

"And you don't know how many people they have?" Michonne asked

"No. Uh, I mean, no. I saw a place where they stored food. It wasn't that big, so..."

"You've been inside?" Rick asks

"Yeah. They had us load in supplies one time."

"Hmm. What do you remember?" Glenn asked putting another piece of paper on the table in front of Andy.

"And you didn't see any other rooms?" Maggie asked him

"No, it's a big place. This is the hallway I saw. There is more."

"And every time, they had you bring things into here?" I ask pointing to the pantry part of the paper

"Jesus. We brought a couple spears for them. Two of the Saviors took them down this hallway. Now, they must've done something with them because they didn't come back with them."

"Maybe a weapons locker, an armory." Jesus points out

"Okay. We get in there, secure the armory, that's how we end it." Glenn mentioned

"That's how Carol ended it here." Maggie adds

"But we don't know if they have an armory or where it even is." Andy points out

"Well, we've got a lot of good guesses. We've done more with less." Daryl tells him

"We go in at night while they're sleeping." Rick tells us

"The guards won't be sleeping. Like I said, I think there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking up the rest of them." Andy says to him

"We don't need to. They're going to open it for us, let us walk right in. They want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to them."

* * *

"Aaron, Rosita. You start here. We'll peel off every quarter mile, meet back here in a couple of hours." I looked at Jesus and we made our way into the woods to find a walker that would resemble Gregory, personally I would much rather kill Gregory and use his actual head but that would start something.

"So...crazy couple of days huh?" Jesus asked me and I looked at him with a smile

"You could say that."

"Listen Samantha," He says and I look at him as we stop, "You've become a valuable member of the Hilltop, and I know you found your family now. I guess what I'm trying to say is wherever you choose to go after this I'll always be there for you."

"How did you.."

"I over heard you and Daryl last night talking." He mentioned and I nodded my head

"Thank you Jesus, I'm really not sure where.." I started to say but we heard growling behind us and turned around seeing 3 walkers come near us, "The one on the left, it's close enough." I tell him and he killed the one by him and I killed the one by me, as I was about to stab the one we picked another one showed up behind me, I was to slow to kill it and it grabbed my arm but before it could bite me Jesus came up behind it stabbing it and it fell, "Thanks"

"No problem" He says and walked past me, I went to follow him but I forgot there was a walker by my feet and I tripped over it taking Jesus down with me and I landed on him. I looked up and noticed our faces were close to each other again. Not gonna lie my heart was racing right now and I wanted to kiss him so badly right now but it's not the time, I don't know if it will ever be.

I muttered a sorry and got up offering him my hand then helped him up, I walked over to the walker we wanted to use, grabbed my machete then cut its head off and we headed back to the road then I started working on the three heads to make them look as close to Gregory as possible with Jesus and Andy standing next to me.

"She's done with the hair?" I hear Rick ask as he walks over to us, "What've we got?"

"That one." Jesus tells him pointing to the one we found

"Yeah, that's it."

"All right." Rick says

"Though, it's probably good we're doing this at night." Jesus points out and I smiled a little

"Something wrong with it?" Rick asked him bending down to the heads

"The nose. Gregory's is a different shape."

Rick picks up the head and started punching the nose, "He fought back. He broke your hand, right?" He asked Andy

"Guess there's no reason to be subtle about it." Jesus tells him and Rick looked at Andy

"What?" Rick asked

"The Saviors, they're scary, but those pricks got nothing on you." Andy tells him and walks away

"He's not wrong" I point out and Rick looked at me

"Shut up" He joked and walked away as I chuckled then started to follow but Jesus stopped me

"Are you gonna be okay doing this?"

"Um..yeah, we've all got jobs to do." I tell him then I feel and ache in my heart at the words Hershel used to say to us

"Just um...be safe"

"I will, no need to worry" I said and walked over to Daryl

* * *

 **Jesus POV...**

I sat in the car looking at the compound with Gabriel, Andy, Craig, and Tara after Andy and Craig arrived, I was looking at the building lost in thought when Tara spoke.

"You still a priest?" She asked Gabriel

"Rick and Carl taught me about guns, other weapons. How to contribute. I'm still a priest."

"I lied to my girlfriend this morning." She says to him and I look at her, "I, um- she caught me thinking about something, so I told her that I loved her. For the first time. That's how I told her, covering something up."

"What were you covering?" He asked her

"That I'd done something like this before. That I didn't like it."

"Do you?" I asked her

"Do you love her?" He asked as well

"Yeah."

"So, you know what you're fighting for." I tell her and looked back at the compound thinking about Samantha, she was what I was fighting for. After I met her and saved her bringing her back to the Hilltop, I got to know her, she was amazing in so many ways. She's beautiful, smart, strong and kind hearted, she woke up something in me that I haven't felt for long time, I loved her and I can't bring myself to tell her and in this world you should tell people how you feel because you don't know if you'll get a tomorrow. I've had a couple of opportunities to kiss her when she would trip and I'd catch her but it took everything in me not to.

After a while we hear the alarm go off at the compound and get out of the car, "We need to go. Get them back to the Hilltop." Tara says

"What? Your people could be in trouble." I said to her

"If you get them back, the deal's still on, right? Right?"

"If they get themselves back. Andy, drive him back to the Hilltop." I tell him and they get in the car and leave and I take my coat and hat off pulling the cloth over my mouth, I had to get in there and help them, help her.

"Look, if they see you and we don't make it-" Tara started to say

"We're gonna make it. And they're not gonna see me." I said to her and ran

* * *

 **Samantha POV...**

I was moving though the compound with Rick, Michonne and Daryl while the alarm went off and we were shooting at the Saviours at the top of the stairs then we ran down the hall.

Rick ducked behind a wall as someone shot at him then when there was a free moment Daryl went out firing his gun ducking behind a wall then I followed with Michonne following me then Rick and we made our way down the hall after shooting the guy who was firing at us.

After everyone one was dead we met up by a door and I saw Jesus walking over with Glenn and Heath, I gave him a small smile then Rick lifted up the door leading out to a fenced yard that had a few cars in it and we made our way out.

I walked over to Daryl as we cleared the yard and put my hand on his shoulder, "You okay?" I asked him and he looked at me

"I'm good, you?"

"Dandy as candy, just like the old days huh?" I asked him and nudged his shoulder, he gave a small smile then wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Just then we hear an engine roar and turn to see a man drive out on a motorcycle

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl yells and runs after him, I aimed my gun and shot the guy making him fall off the bike and Daryl lands on him then punched him, "Where'd you get the bike?" He asked as Rick pointed his gun at the guy.

"Just do it! Like you did everyone else, right?"

 _"Lower your gun, prick."_ We hear a lady say over the walkie, _"You, with the Colt Python. All of you, lower your weapons right now."_

"Come on out. Let's talk." Rick responded picking up the walkie

 _"We're not coming out, but we will talk,"_ She says and there's a pause, _"We've got a Carol and a Maggie. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about."_ She tells us and I gripped my gun then look at Glenn.

"You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade." Rick tells her

 _"I'm listening."_

"First I want to talk to Maggie and Carol, make sure they're all right.

" _Rick, it's Carol. I'm- I'm fine, but-"_ She tarted to said but was cut off, " _Rick, it's Maggie. We're both okay. We'll figure thi-You have your proof. Let's talk._

"This is the deal right here. Let 'em go, you can have your guy back and live."

 _"Two for one, that's not much of a trade."_ The woman said to him

"You don't have another choice or you would've done something about it already." Rick says and there's a pause, "Look, I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade. Just come out, we do this, we all walk away. Do we have a deal?"

 _"I'll get back to you."_

"Now what?" I asked him

"Now, you go back to the Hilltop with Jesus and make sure our deal still sticks with Gregory."

"Rick..." I started to say but Daryl cuts me off

"Sammie, we need you there, you're our best shot at keeping that prick on his toes."

I looked at him then at Jesus then back at Daryl, "Ok, but bring them back safely." I tell him and he nods then gives me a hug, "I'll come visit in a couple days. Take care of yourself."

"You too." He tells me and I see him give a small nod to Jesus and we left.

"You ok?" Jesus asked me from the drivers seat

"I gotta be" I tell him and look out the window, I did, I had to be okay. I will go back to them, when the time is right.


	7. Chapter 7

**Surviving the Dead**

I moved around my trailer gathering up clothes and supplies that I was gonna need for my trip to Alexandria when there was a knock on the door, "Come in"

"Hey, heading out?" Jesus asked me and I turned to face him, it had been a week since we got back and I hadn't gotten any word on Maggie or Carol so I figured I'd head there

"Yeah as soon as I get everything gathered up." I tell him putting stuff in my bag

"Taking your bike?"

"Yeah, I managed to get enough gas to get me there, maybe back if need be." I said and put the last item in my bag then turned to face him slinging it over my shoulder and I saw the look on his face, "What?"

"Nothing, be safe." He says and I walk over to him

"Listen Jesus, I'm always gonna be safe, no matter what, but um just in case I'm not.." I started to say and I leaned up and kissed him, he tensed at first but as he started to relax I pulled away and looked at him, "Well um..see you later." I say and walk out of my trailer walking over to my bike, getting on and leaving, "You're so stupid Samantha." I mumbled to myself as I drove down the road

* * *

I drove up to the gates and saw Rick, Morgan, Sasha, Abraham and another guy standing there, Rick opened the gate for me and I drove in, "What's going on?"

"Carol's gone, so is Glenn, Michonne, Rosita...and Daryl" Rick tells me and I get back on my bike, "Whoa where are you going?"

"After my brother, why the hell would he take off?"

"A few Saviors ran into him Rosita and Denise the other day, one of them killed Denise, Daryl's not to happy about it." Rick informed me and I sighed, "I'm sorry Sam but I can't let you leave and go after him"

"Why the hell not?"

"I need you here, with them I need you to help out, your one of the strongest fighters here." He says and I hesitated then started my bike and drove to Daryl's house.

* * *

I was sitting with Maggie in the kitchen when she gets up and walks over to the door letting Enid in, "Scott said you were looking for me? What's up?"

"I need some more help." Maggie tells her handing her a pair of scissors

After about 20 or so minutes of Enid snipping away at Maggie's hair I handed Maggie a mirror and she looked at herself

"I like it. But why?" Enid asked her

"Hmm. I have to keep going. And I don't want anything getting in my way." Maggie tells her then grunts and leans forward a bit, I sat upright and looked at her

"Man, did I go too short? I-I only used to cut my dad's." Enid tells her

"No, it's not that." Maggie tells her and leans forward more

"Maggie?" I asked getting up and she screamed falling to the floor but I grabbed her so she wouldn't hurt herself, "Maggie. Maggie!" I held my arms around her as she screamed and whimpered, "Enid go get Rick now!" I tell her and she runs out, "It's ok I got you, I got you." I whispered to Maggie as she held her stomach

* * *

"It's ok I got you." I tell Maggie as she lays on the bed in the back of the RV, We left just a little bit ago to bring her to the Hilltop to our doctor, after Aaron left Rick walked in and I walked out giving them privacy.

Rick walked out and told me Maggie wanted me to go back in, I walked in and sat down next to her, "You ok?"

"I'm holding on...Sam if anything happens..."

"Stop, you both are gonna be fine." I tell her and she grabs my hand

"If anything happens to me or Glenn we want you to take care of the baby." She tells me and tears form in my eyes.

"God you suck with timing," I tell her and she gives a light chuckle, "I'll do anything to protect him...or her, but you both are gonna be fine and I will get to spoil the living hell out of this kid." She smiles and I feel the RV stop, "I'll be right back" I stood up and walked over to Rick and see people in the road.

"What?" Rick asked Abraham

"Enemy close. We doing this?"

"No." Rick tells him and Abraham puts the RV in park and Rick gets out and I follow him

"He's someone who was with a whole lot of someones who didn't listen." One of the guys says

"We can make a deal right here, right now." Rick says to them

"hat's right, we can. Give us all your stuff. We'll probably have to kill one of you. That's just the way it is, but then we can start moving forward on business. All you have to do is listen."

"Yeah... that deal's not gonna work for us. Fact is, I was about to ask for all of your stuff, only I'm thinking I don't have to kill any of you. Any more of you." Rick says and one guy shakes a can of spray paint and paints it on the dead body in front of them

"Sorry, my deal is the only deal. We don't negotiate."

Rick motions for us to get back in the RV, I stay by the door as the others go in waiting for Rick, "Me and my people are leaving."

"Okay, friend. Plenty of ways to get to where you're going."

"You want to make today your last day on Earth?" Rick asked him stopping by the door

"No, but that is a good thing to bring up. Think about it. What if it's the last day on Earth for you? For someone you love? What if that's true? Maybe you should be extra nice to those people in that RV, 'cause you never know. Just like that. Be kind to each other. Like you said... like it was your last day on Earth."

"You do the same" Rick tells him and we get in

* * *

"Logrun Road's a straight shot." I tell them looking at the map with Eugene and Sasha

"We want visibility."

"There, you got it on Shelton. Golf course, country clubs, sloping terrain. No bum rush from the bogeyman. We'd see them from a good piece. It is a longer trip by a third, but we'd get the scenic safety of clear-cut dingles and glens." Eugene tells her

"You're being serious, right?" Sasha asked him

"As coronary thrombosis."

"You got a route?" Rick asked her walking over

"Yeah."

"Let's go" He says and I look out the window at the walker hitting the side of the RV, I have to get Maggie there, even if I die trying.

* * *

"Bitch nuts." I hear Abraham say and I get up to look out the window and Rick joins

"We making our stand?" Sasha asked him

"Yeah, we end it." Carl tells her

"No, not now. They've been waiting. They're ready. With one of us behind the wheel, that's five on 16. We're gonna play it our way, how we want it. Right?" He asked Carl

"Right."

"All right, go slow." He tells Abraham who puts the RV in reverse

* * *

"How are we on gas?" Rick asked

"Half a tank. I pulled some more cans before we left."

"Those weren't the same men who blocked the road the first time." I point out

"Same outfit, different soldiers. They got numbers." Abraham tells Rick

"Yeah, we keep driving, we get her there."

"We will." Sasha says

"If we have to shove each and every one of them up their own asses." Abraham adds and the RV slows down as he stops it

"We can't go through it. Can't risk the RV. You stay behind the wheel, just in case. We'll clear it." Rick tells him and he gets out followed by the rest of us with our guns raised

"Putting together a red rover like that takes people. A lot of them." Eugene tells us

"Come on, let's do this." Rick said grabbing his knife

"Dad. That's Michonne's." Carl tells him and I see a piece of Michonne's hair on a walker and I look over at another one and my heart stops

"That's Daryl's." I said seeing two of his bolts in it, then there's gunfire aiming at our feet

"Get back to the RV! Go!" Rick orders us and I pull Carl with me as the others start firing at the trees, I see Rick cut a walkers arm giving us our passage then we get in and drive away

* * *

"She's burning up." I tell Rick walking out of the room Maggie was in and I hear the RV squeal

"Rick." Abraham says and I look forward seeing more people in the road

"Son of a bitch" I whisper under my breath

"Go back." Rick tells him

"Where?"

* * *

We walk up to another block in the road, only this time it was trees

"These tracks...they would indicate they not only have people, but some big-ass toys and capabilities." Eugene points out

"What it indicates is we are neck-deep up shit creek with our mouths wide open." Abraham says and suddenly there's a scream and we see a man dangling from the bridge, "Don't." He tells Aaron who's pointing his gun at the man

"I can try and break the chain."

"It won't work." Abraham says to him

"It won't work." I add, "And we need the bullets." I said and the guy dies, just then the trees behind us start on fire.

"You're treating your people good, right? Like it was your last day on Earth? Or maybe one of theirs? You better go. It's gonna get hot. You go get where you're going." We hear a savior tells us and I point my gun up but Rick moves it down

"Go, go" He says and I feel someone pull me back into the RV and we leave

"So, what's the play?" Abraham asked after we got away and stopped then Rick came out

"She needs a doctor."

"There are two more routes north from here." I tell them looking at the map

"They're probably waiting for us right now." Aaron tells me

"So, they're ahead of us, probably behind us. But they're not waiting on us, per se, they're waiting on this rust bucket. And they don't know the moment-to-moment occupancy of said rust-bucket. And the sun sets soon." Eugene says and I look at him, I knew what he was thinking

* * *

I finished getting Maggie set up on the stretcher we were gonna carry her on, "Don't worry Maggie, I'll get you both there." I tell her and she slowly nods her head and we carry her out then make for the woods

"Aaron, please. Just let me walk it." Maggie tells him as me and her walk next to her

"Relax. Just a few more miles."

"Ain't no way in hell I'm letting you off this thing until we get there" I tell her and she looks at me as I put my hand on her shoulder

"I heard what you told her when we were leaving. We can do anything, 'cause we'll do anything we need to do. We have and we happened to Denise, I'm not gonna let anybody die like that again." I hear Carl tell Rick

"Son..." Rick started to say but he stopped when we heard whistling

"What?" I asked him

"Go! Go!" Rick tells us and we start moving faster as the whistling continues

We keep going but stop when a light shines at us and we are surrounded by Saviors, "Good. You made it. Welcome to where you're going. We'll take your weapons. Now." The one Savior tells us and I aim my gun at him standing next to Maggie and I see Eugene on his knees

"We can talk about-" Rick starts to say

"We're done talking. Time to listen." The savior tells him and a few come over taking our guns from us, "That's yours, right?" He asked Carl indicating to his gun, "Yeah, it's yours. Okay. Let's get her down and get you all on your knees." He tells us and two men walk over but I step in front of them, "Lots to cover."

"We got it." I tell them and they grin at me

"Sure, sure." The savior said, me and Aaron help Maggie off the stretcher and I hold onto her so she doesn't fall then help her to the ground

"I got you" I whisper to her kneeling next to her

"Dwight!" The savior yells

"Yeah."

"Chop-chop." He says and the guy goes over to a van

"Come on. You got people to meet." He says and I see a couple guys bring out Daryl, I fought so hard from running over to him, he had a blanket on him and I saw blood, he looked at me and I fought back tears, then I see Michonne, Rosita and Glenn follow him

"Maggie?" Glenn asked

"On your knees!" Dwight tells him grabbing him forcing him to kneel, I kept my eyes on Daryl who looked horrible

"All right! We got a full boat. Let's meet the man." The savior says and knocks on the door of the RV, shortly after a man comes out, leather jacket, red scarf and a barbed wire bat.

"Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close. Yep. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. Which one of you pricks is the leader?" The man asked

"It's this one. He's the guy." The Savior tells him and the man walks over to Rick

"Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes. Yes, you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention. Give me your shit...or I will kill you. Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want. And what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door...you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it down. You understand?" He asked Rick, "What, no answer? You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you? I don't want to kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead, now, can you? I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that you're gonna pay. So, now... I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you." He says and I look at Daryl then at the ground, "This- this is Lucille, and she is awesome. All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor." Negan inhales sharply in front of Abraham and rubs his chin, "Huh. Ugh, I gotta shave this shit. You got one of our guns. Whoa. Yeah. You got a lot of our guns." He stops in front of Carl, "Shit, kid, lighten up. At least cry a little." He walks away stropping in front of Maggie, "Jesus. You look shitty. I should just put you out of your misery right now." He said and I was about to move but Glenn does it instead

"No! No!" He yells but gets pulled back and a couple saviors beat him

"Stop it! God-!" Maggie pleaded and I put my hand on her shoulder

"Nope. Nope, get him back in line." Negan tells them, "All right, listen. Don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. First one's free. It's an emotional moment, I get it. Sucks, don't it? The moment you realize you don't know shit. This is your kid, right?" Negan asked Rick, "This is definitely your kid."

"Just stop this!" Rick pleaded

"Hey! Do not make me kill the little future serial killer. Don't make it easy on me. I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order." He says and whistles, "I simply cannot decide. I got an idea." He says and moves over to Rick and points his bat at him, "Eenie..." To Maggie, "meenie..." Abraham, "miney..." Michonne "mo..." Rosita "catch..." Daryl, _no_ "a tiger..." me "by...his toe." Sasha "If..." Aaron "he hollers..." Eugene "let him go. My mother..." Carl "told me..." me again "to pick the very best one..." Rick "and you... are..." He lands on his choice "it. Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy's other eye out and feed it to his father and then we'll start. You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry. Hell, you're all gonna be doing that." He says and swings his bat on their head, "Ho! Ho! Look at that. Taking it like a champ!" He says and hits them again, over and over as I kneel there watching it happen and I look at Daryl, then I thought about Jesus and the last moment we had, I kissed him, I kissed hi and I left not knowing what would have happened next. Why couldn't I have just told him how I felt?

* * *

"Suck... my... nuts." Abraham struggles to say after Negan hit the first time and then hits him again

"Did you hear that? He said, "Suck my nuts." Phew." after a few more blows he holds up his bat, "Oh, my goodness! Look at this! You guys, look at my dirty girl! Sweetheart... Lay your eyes on this." He tells Rosita, "Oh, damn. Were you - Were you together? That sucks. But if you were, you should know there was a reason for all this. Red - and hell, he was, is, and will ever be red. He just took one or six or seven for the team! So take...a damn look."

"Leave her alone" I mumble and he walks over to me

"What was that?"

I looked up at him and saw Daryl try to move out the corner of my eye, "I said, leave her alone."

"You got spunk girl, but I do not appreciate the attitude." He says and stands up, "Maybe I should have you join him." He tells me then I see Daryl jump up and punch him in the face

"Daryl!" I shouted at him as a couple saviors take him down and tears roll down my face

"No! Oh, no. That? Oh, my! That... is a no-no. The whole thing - not one bit of that shit flies here."

"Do you want me to do it?" Dwight asked him pointing Daryl's crossbow at him, "Right here."

"No. No, you don't kill them...not until you try a little." Negan tells him and they move Daryl back to his spot and I look at him, "And anyway... that's not how it works. Now, I already told you people - first one's free, then - what'd I say? I said I would shut that sh1t down! No exceptions. Now, I don't know what kind of lying assholes you've been dealing with... but I'm a man of my word. First impressions are important. I need you to know me. So... back to it." He says and brings the bat down on Glenn, _No,_ I thought to myself as I watched my best friend, Maggie's husband, get killed, "Buddy, you still there?" He asked Glenn who was trying to speak, "I just don't know. It seems like you're trying to speak, but you just took a hell of a hit. I just popped your skull so hard, your eyeball just popped out, and it is gross as shit!"

"Maggie, I'll find you." Glenn gurgles out and I put my hand on hers as she sobbed while Negan started hitting him again and again

"Oh. Oh, hell. I can see this is hard on you guys, I am sorry. I truly am. But I did say it. No exceptions!" He said and beat Glenn some more, tears rolled down my face and my heart was breaking listening to Maggie, "Lucille is thirsty. She is a vampire bat." He says and I squeeze Maggie's hand, "What? Was the joke that bad?"

"I'm gonna kill you." I hear Rick tell him

"What? I didn't quite catch that. You're gonna have to speak up."

"Not today...not tomorrow...but I'm gonna kill you." Rick says again

"Jesus. Simon...what did he have, a knife?" Negan asked

"Uh, he had a hatchet."

"A hatchet?" Negan asked him

"He had an ax."

"Simon's my right-hand man. Having one of those is important. I mean, what do you have left without them? A whole lot of work. Do you have one? Maybe one of these fine people still breathing? Oh. Or did I..." He indicated to Abraham and Glenn, "Sure. Yeah. Give me his ax." He says and the guy brings it over, Negan looks at Rick then grabs him dragging him to the RV, "I'll be right back. Maybe Rick will be with me. And if not, well, we can just turn these people inside out, won't we? I mean... the ones that are left." He says and gets in, after the Engine sputters it started and they drove off

* * *

After finally returning Negan pushes Rick out of the RV, "Here we are. Let me ask you something, Rick -do you even know what that little trip was about?" Negan asked him but he stayed quiet, "Speak when you're spoken to. That trip was about the way that you looked at me. I wanted to change that. I wanted you to understand. But you're still looking at me the same damn way... like I shit in your scrambled eggs, and that's not gonna work. So...do I give you another chance?"

"Yeah, yes, yes" Rick answered

"Okay. All right. And here it is -the grand-prize game. What you do next will decide whether your crap day becomes everyone's last crap day or just another crap day. Get some guns to the back of their heads." He tells the Saviours and a few move behind us pointing guns at our heads, "Good. Now... level with their noses, so if you have to fire...it'll be a real mess. Kid..." He says to Carl, "Right here. Kid...now." He tells him and Carl moves over to him, "You a southpaw?"

"Am I a what?" Carl asked him

"You a lefty?" Negan asked

"No."

"Good." He tells him taking off his belt and tying it on Carl's arm, "That hurt?"

"No."

"Should. It's supposed to. All right. Get down on the ground, kid, next to Daddy. Spread them wings. Simon... you got a pen?"

"Yeah." He says and throwing the pen to Negan

"Sorry, kid. This is gonna be as cold as a warlock's ballsack, just like he was hanging his ballsack above you and dragging it right across the forearm. There you go. Gives you a little leverage."

"Please. Please. Please don't. Please don't." Rick pleaded to him

"Me? I ain't doing shit. Ahh. Rick, I want you to take your ax... cut your son's left arm off, right on that line. Now, I know-I know. You're gonna have to process that for a second. That makes sense. Still, though, I'm gonna need you to do it, or all these people are gonna die. Then Carl dies, then the people back home die...and then you, eventually. I'm gonna keep you breathing for a few years, just so you can stew on it."

"You - You don't have to do this. We understand. We understand." Michoone begged him

"You understand. Yeah. I'm not sure that Rick does. I'm gonna need a clean cut right there on that line. Now, I know this is a screwed-up thing to ask, but it's gonna have to be like a salami slice - nothing messy, clean, 45 degrees - give us something to fold over. We got a great doctor. The kid'll be fine. Probably. Rick... this needs to happen now - chop, chop - or I will crush the little fella's skull myself."

"It can - It can - It can be me. It can be me. W-W- Y-You can do it to me. I c- I can go with - with you." Rick pleads

"No. This is the only way. Rick... pick up the ax. Not making a decision is a big decision. You really want to see all these people die? You will. You will see every ugly thing. Oh, my God. Are you gonna make me count? Okay, Rick. You win. I am counting. 3!"

"Please." Rick started crying, "Please. It can be me. Please!"

"2!"

"Please, don't do-" Rick pleads more and I squeeze Maggie's hand trying to hold myself back

"This is it."

"Aaah!" Rick yelled

"1."

"Dad... just do it. Just do it." Carl tells him and Rick cries some more then brings his arm up but Negan stopped him

"Rick. You answer to me. You provide for me. You belong to me. Right? Speak when you're spoken to! You answer to me. You provide for me."

"Provide for you." Rick repeats what he said

"You belong to me, right?!" Negan asked him

"Right. Right."

"That... is the look I wanted to see. We did it... all of us, together... even the dead guys on the ground. Hell, they get the spirit award, for sure." Negan said and sighed, "Today was a productive damn day! Now, I hope, for all your sake... that you get it now... that you understand how things work. Things have changed. Whatever you had going for you... that is over now. Ah. Dwight...load him up." He indicates to Daryl and I see Dwight grab him, I was about to move to rush over to him but Sasha and Maggie held me back

"No" I whispered locking eyes with my big brother before they shut the door, "No" I cried and Maggie squeezed my hand.

"He's got guts -not a little bitch like someone I know. I like him. He's mine now. But you still want to try something? "Not today, not tomorrow." "Not today, not tomorrow"? I will cut pieces off of... Hell's his name?" Negan asked Simon

"Daryl."

"Wow. That actually sounds right. I will cut pieces off of Daryl and put them on your doorstep-or, better yet, I will bring him to you and have you do it for me. Ahh! Welcome to a brand-new beginning, you sorry shits! I'm gonna leave you a truck. Keep it. Use it to cart all the crap you're gonna find me. We'll be back for our first offering in one week. Until then... ta-ta." He tells us and they drive away, I get up and start to run after them but I feel someone grab me and I see it was Aaron, I fall to the ground crying as Aaron hugged me.

"Maggie" I hear Rick say and I move away from Aaron over to her as she stands, "Maggie, Maggie you need to sit down"

"No."

"We need to get you to the Hilltop." I tell her and she shakes her head

"You need to go get ready." She tells Rick

"For what?"

"To fight them." She says and moves away from me

"They have Daryl. They have an army. We would die - all of us."

"Go home. Take everybody with you. I can get there by myself." She says with her voice breaking

"You can barely stand up." I tell her

"I need to go. You need to go to Alexandria." She says breathing heavily, "You were out - out here for me."

"We still are." Rick says

"I can make it now. I need you to go back. I can't have you out here. I can't have you all out here anymore. I need you to go back."

"Maggie...I'm not letting you go alone, okay?" I said to her

"You have to."

"It's not gonna happen." I tell her and Sasha walks up to us

"We'll take her. We're gonna get her there. We'll gonna keep her safe." Sasha says to them and looked at Maggie, "I'm not giving you a choice."

"I'm taking him with me." She indicated to Glenn, her voice breaks and she bends down trying to lift him but Rick puts his hand on her shoulder, "I need to do this. Please"

"We need to help you." Aaron tells her

"I got it. I got it." Carl says putting his hands on her shoulders pulling her up

"Pl- Pl- Please let us. He- He's our family, t- He's our family, too." Rick says and Maggie moves going into Carl's arms

"You're okay." He reassured her as Rick, Aaron and Carl grab him, "All right. On three. 1, 2..." They lift him up and bring him to the truck, I pull Maggie to me and she cries into my shoulder

"I'm so sorry Maggie, I'm so sorry." I tell her and Sasha comes over and we go to the truck driving off.

* * *

 **Jesus POV...**

She kissed me, what did that mean? I mean I know what it means but did it mean that? I was taken out of my thoughts when I hear people shouting outside and I walked out of my trailer, "What is it?" I asked Cal who was up on the fence

"Samantha, and a couple others" He tells me and I rush over

"Open it" I tell him and the gate opens then a truck pulls in, I see Sasha driving it with Maggie leaning on Samantha's shoulder, it stops and Sasha gets out followed by Samantha and Maggie

"She needs your doctor" Sasha tells me and our doctor rushed over helping Sasha carry Maggie to his trailer. I walked over to Samantha who was staring at the bed of the truck

"Samantha?"

"The Saviours...Negan...he..." She stopped and inhaled a shaky breath, "Glenn...Abraham" She says and I looked at the bed of the truck seeing 2 covered up bodies

"Samantha, I'm.." I was cut off when she moved away from my hand as I tried to put it on her shoulder

"They took Daryl, he was there too...shot...and they took him" She tells me with her voice breaking, "Can you um...can you get some people to bury them, I need to check on Maggie."

"Of course." I tell her and she walks away to the medical trailer

* * *

After a while and I was finishing up covering the last hole I saw Samantha leave the medical trailer and head to her own, I finished up and walked over to her trailer, I gave a light knock and there was a pause.

"Come in" I hear her say softly and I opened the door, the trailer was dark except for one light on her table, I looked and saw her sitting on her bed with her head down, "Sorry if I'm bothering you I just...wanted to..."

"I'm not okay if that's what your wondering"

"Samantha...I know sorry doesn't fix it but..." I start to say and she sniffled

"I don't know what to do" She says and I walk over to her sitting on the bed across from her, "I can't get it out of my head, I can't..."

"Hey," I gab a hold of her hand, "What can I do?"

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, I hate seeing her broken like this, "Help me get my brother back" She tells me

"When the time is right, we will"

She pulls her hand away and wipes her face then gets up, "I know this is bad timing but about what happened before I left..."

"We don't have to talk about it now."

She turned and faced me, "I need to, life is to short." She says and looked down, "I um...I did it because, I have feelings for you, have for a while and I never said anything which was stupid because in the world now you need to..."

I cut her off by putting my hands on her face, "Samantha, stop" I tell her and she looked at me, I couldn't fight it, I wanted to because she was grieving, but I kissed her. She tensed at first then she relaxed and moved her lips along with mine, it felt right, it felt...it felt amazing, I was kissing her and my heart skipped a beat with every movement. After a good minute we broke apart and rested our foreheads against each others.

"Wow" She said and I smiled then lifted my head and looked at her tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Shouldn't have done that."

"Why?" She asked

"Because your grieving, and now I don't want to stop"

She giggles and put her hand on my face, I loved it when she touched me, "Then how about you just stay with me tonight, I don't want to be alone."

"Of course." I tell her and she walks past me then sits on her bed again, I take my shoes off and sit next to her, we look at each other for a little bit then move to lay down pulling the blanket over us, I wrap my arm around her and she lays her head on my chest looking at me, this moment right here was the best moment ever, I was holding the girl I love. After a few moments her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep, I kissed her head then fell asleep shortly after.


	8. Chapter 8

**Surviving the Dead**

 **Samantha POV...**

I woke up to the sun shining through the window of my trailer, I rubbed my eyes and noticed that Jesus was still next to me still asleep, I smiled then slowly got up being careful not to wake him and I walked over to my counter grabbing the bottle of water I had in there taking a drink. Just then I feel arms around my waist and I jumped because it startled me.

I hear Jesus chuckle then I face him, "Someone's jumpy"

"Well someone sneaks around like a ninja so it makes it hard for people to hear him" I said with a smile and he kissed me

"Sorry. So...how are you?"

"Hanging in there, I keep thinking about Daryl, after...after Negan killed Abraham he held the bat in front of Rosita telling her to look, I told him to leave her alone and he said maybe I should join him then Daryl got up trying to attack him. I don't know what their gonna do to him I just..." I said with tears

"Hey, hey shh" Jesus tells me pulling me into a hug, "Don't do this to yourself it'll make you go crazy. Everything is gonna be okay, I meant what I said last night when the time is right we will get him."

I looked at him and he wiped my tears away, "Thank you, for being here."

"No where else I'd rather be." He tells me and kissed my head, "Are you gonna check on Maggie?"

"Yeah, and um...maybe we keep quiet about us, not that I'm not happy about it because I am but...she just lost Glenn, Sasha just lost Abraham, I'd feel like I was rubbing happiness in their face.

"Samantha, it's ok I understand" He says and I kissed him on the cheek

"I better get changed and head over."

"I'll talk to you later" He says and walked out

* * *

I walked into the medical trailer and see Maggie laying on the bed with Dr. Carson standing by the monitor, Maggie looked like she was asleep so I quietly closed the door.

"How is she?" I asked him and he turned to face me

"She's still asleep has been for a while."

"What happened?" I asked but suddenly I see Maggie slowly wake up and I moved over to her

"Welcome back. Do you remember me?" Dr. Carson asked her, "I'm Dr. Carson. You're at Hilltop Colony. You've been asleep for a while. You suffered from the condition abruptio placentae. It's a separation of the placenta from uterus. It's unusual this early, but, uh...could be caused by trauma. Possibly the bruises on your abdomen" He tells her and I put my hand on her shoulder rubbing it and she looked at me then back at him

"Did I-I..." She exhales sharply, "...lose...?"

"No. Separation was small. Baby's heart rate is normal. Here, listen." He says clicking a button then putting the ultrasound wand on her belly and we hear the baby's heart beat, "There it is. Now, you need to take it easy for a few days. You don't want to exacerbate the separation any more. And I really think you need to stay here for the duration of your pregnancy. If anything else happens, I can take care of it. You have any questions?" He asked her and she starts to sit up

"Whoa, whoa Maggie easy. Easy, easy, easy, easy." I tell her and she looks at him

"Can you say that again?"

"What?" He asked her

"Everything you just said."

* * *

We open the door to the trailer and I help Maggie out seeing Sasha sitting there eating an apple, "You, uh - You okay?" She asked Maggie

"Where is he? Where are they both?" Maggie asked and Sasha leads us over to the two grave sites

"It was in Glenn's pocket." Sasha tells her handing Maggie Hershel's pocket watch that he gave to Glenn, "All Abraham had was a cigar." She says and I chuckle a little Maggie kisses the watch and puts it on Glenn's grave and takes a sharp breath and I crouch down next to her

"Maggie?" I asked her and she sniffles then nods her head telling me she's okay

"It feels like everything is wrong." Sasha says and I grab her hand giving it a squeeze

"Not everything." Maggie tells her

"He told me that you're gonna be all right. He said you'll just have to take it easy for the next few days."

"He told me that we have to stay. That we, um... He says it's better if he's close, just in case, till the baby's born." Maggie mentioned

"Then we'll stay." Sasha tells her

"I'm still thinking about it."

"You're staying. And so am I." Sasha says and I pull Maggie into a side hug

"Me too." I tell her

"It's nice to see you up." I hear Jesus say as he walks over and puts flowers on Abraham's grave then Glenn's and I catch his eye and give him a small smile

"Flowers. It was you." Maggie tells him

"Ones on your bed, too." Sasha points out

"I read somewhere that blue flowers inspire strength and calming." He tells Maggie as she stands up

"What's green?" She asked him

"Release." She sniffles and he puts his hand on her shoulder rubbing it

"Thank God you're finally awake." I hear Gregory say walking over to us, "You people said you got them all."

"We thought we did. It was just an outpost." Maggie tells him as her and Sasha walk over

"H-How many of them were there?"

"There were a lot. Maybe hundreds."

"Do they know the deal you made us take, Marsha?" Gregory asked her and I walked over

"It's Maggie." Jesus corrected

"No. And we didn't make you take the deal, Gregory."

"I-I-I'm happy we could patch you up. You need to go. Make sure you let Rich know what we did for you." He tells her and I shifted, Jesus must have noticed because he put his hand on my back, I looked at him then back at Gregory

"Dr. Carson said I should stay."

"If he thinks he has the authority to make that decision, he's mistaken." He said and looked at both me and Sasha, "Don't look at me like that. She'll be safer with her own people. And we'll be safer without her. You need to keep your distance from Maggie and stay focused on your work here at Hilltop." Gregory says to me and looks at the graves, "Did you do this? We don't bury our dead. We burn them."

"I did it. I don't live here." Sasha tells him

"Gregory, this is Sasha. She got Maggie here. They're both from Alexandria." Jesus tells him

"I can't - I-I don't have time to keep track of everybody. I've been recuperating, too, Jesus - from a stab wound." Gregory says and I roll my eyes, "You know? Maggie said that her people could take care of the Saviors. S-So far, all they've done is put our community at risk. You know, if they see you here, they'll think we colluded."

"We did." Sasha tells him

"I did not agree to this. If they think we helped attack their outpost, they'll do that to us. Jesus, do you have any idea what plausible deniability means?" Gregory asked him

"Yes."

"Well, then you know it's our way out. If they leave, we have plausible deniability." He mentioned

"Gregory, it'll be night soon. It's not safe for them to leave now." I tell him and he scoffed

"Look, I'm a good guy. You can stay the night. But leave in the morning."

"We'll talk more about it tonight." Jesus tells him

"No, I made my decision."

"I'm just saying that maybe-" Jesus started to say

"Do you want to go back with them?" Gregory asked him

"I'll take them back."

"I meant-" Gregory started to say

"I know what you meant." Jesus said cutting him off

"So it's settled."

"No, it's not. Maggie is pregnant." I said to Gregory

"Well... that's her mistake." He said and I went to move forward clenching my fist but Jesus stopped me and Gregory walked away

* * *

"Come in." I hear Jesus say after I knocked on the door to his trailer that he was letting Maggie and Sasha stay in, I opened the door then me and Maggie walked in, "I made the bed for you and laid out some clothes. They're mine, so they're more utility than comfort." He tells Maggie and I give him a smile

"It's okay. We won't be here much longer." Maggie tells him

"I'm sorry, about all of it. I'm...gonna see what I can do."

"Mm. Why do you burn your dead?" She asked

"Um... The idea was just to keep going." I answered

"What do you have to remember 'em by?"

"Us. I'll see you in the morning." Jesus replied and I saw him glance at me before he walked out

"Now what?" Maggie asked sitting down

"Maybe we stay. What can Gregory do?" Sasha asks

"He's in charge." Maggie said

"He's an idiot. He's a coward. They're more dangerous." I tell them

" We have the night. Let's think on it. Things will be clearer in the mornin'." Maggie says and I grab her hand.

"No matter what it takes, I'll make sure you stay here," I tell her and grabbed Sasha's hand, "Both of you." They both smile at me and I stand up, "Well you get some rest, I'll come see you in the morning, let me know if you need anything, I'm not to far away." I tell Maggie and I walked out seeing Jesus head to the house, "Hey" I called after him and he looked at me, "Thank you, for giving them your place for the night."

"It's not a problem, she needs the rest." He said and I walked up to him taking the hamper he had in his hands and set it down but before I could do anything he pulled me to him kissing me deeply, I wrapped my arms around his neck and moved my lips along his, it felt so wonderful.

"Keep kissing me like that and I'll have to take you to my place" I said with a smile and he chuckled

"Don't tempt me." He says and gives me a light peck, "Good night beautiful"

"Good night" I tell him and headed to my trailer and glanced back at him as he watched me.

* * *

I was laying in my bed staring at the ceiling lost in thought when suddenly I hear loud music coming from outside, I look out the window and see there's fire and that the gates are open, "Oh shit!" I grabbed my knife and went to run out but my door was jammed, "Damn it" I grunted and climbed the table to the window in my ceiling climbing out of it and I saw Sasha on top of theirs as walkers start coming through, "We need to turn that off" I tell her, we get down and run over to the car.

"Jesus! Sasha and Sam are alone down there! They need help!" We hear Maggie yell and I turn seeing her on the roof of the trailer

"Damn it, Maggie." I said and stabbed a walker

"You two! Get those gates closed!" She yells at two people on the balcony at the house

"On it!"

We go over to the car only to see it's welded shut, "Oh, man, come on." Sasha groaned trying to pull it open, I feel something touch my shoulder and I whip around raising my knife only to see Jesus standing there stopping my arm

"Hi."

"Sorry." I tell him and he smiles

"It's okay. We need to close the gates."

"Yeah." I tell him and he stabs a walker then we hear a motor rev, we turn around and see Maggie driving a tractor, I moved to run over to her but Jesus grabbed my hand and I looked at him

"She's got it. I need your help here." He tells me, then me, him and Sasha continue killing walkers as Maggie gets closer then drives over the car crushing it and the music stops, I look at Sasha as she runs over to Maggie, "You okay?" Jesus asked me and I nodded

"It was them"

* * *

"I don't care what they did. The answer is no." Gregory tells me and Jesus as we stand in his study

"I'm not turning away a pregnant woman who helped us. I'm not turning away Sasha, either."

"Who the hell is Sasha?" Gregory asked

"They're staying." I tell him

"You're not in charge, neither are you Jesus. I am. I'm the one who has to look after the safety of this place. What, are you telling you want to call the plays, after all this time, after I set the table here? Say the word. The broken gate, the Saviors, the people-all of this can be yours. Only you'd have to stick around for more than five minutes. You'd actually have to be a part of this place."

"Gregory?" Sasha asked as her and Maggie walked in

"Ah, I-I was just telling Ms. Caitlin to bring up some of her famous rhubarb preserves for you both. It's our way of saying thank you for helping out last night."

"It's Ms. Maitlin." I corrected

"You can take them with you when you go. And you should go now, because the Saviors could get back any minute."

"I'll go." Sasha tells him

"Sasha..." Maggie starts

"But let her stay. We'll call it even on last night." Sasha finished

"No deal. But it's been lovely having you here." He tells her and I clench my fist

"Just tell me how we can make this work." Sasha pleaded

"I think we'd need to... meet on that one-on-one just to explore-"

"Go to hell." I said through my teeth at him

"Are you actually imply-No. You know what? I'm sorry. I'm gonna tell Ms. Caitlin to keep her preserves." Gregory says and we hear a truck approach, we move to the window to see the Saviors pull in, "You know what they'll do if they find you here? Jesus, get them in the closet."

"Gregory-" Maggie starts to say

"Go get in there now. And you don't move, you don't speak, and maybe you'll get out of this alive." Gregory tells him and I grab Maggie's hand bringing her to the closet and we got in, I knew they probably wouldn't remember me but rather safe then sorry, I hear multiple footsteps walk in and I grip my knife.

* * *

"I told you to hide them in the hallway closet!" Gregory tells Jesus as we walked out

"No, you said closet."

"This is my bedroom. What if they came in here before I-" Gregory started to say but Maggie cut him off

"Before you tried to give us up? They would've killed you first."

"Honey, I'm talking to Jesus." He tells her and I clench my jaw

"Stop." Jesus tells him

"Why are you even defending her? We're here right now because she and - and Rich didn't handle things like they said they would."

"The Saviors tried to kill you." Jesus adds

"That was a misunderstanding. And as soon as the Saviors leave, we get them the hell out of here before something bad really happens."

"Stop! They're staying. Or do you want to make it public? You want to make the deal with Alexandria public? Lose your plausible deniability? Lose your position?" I asked him walking over and standing next to Jesus

"So you're gonna be in charge now?" Gregory asked me

"No. It's just that you won't be. Maggie and Sasha are staying. I'm staying."

"We're all gonna be one big happy dysfunctional family." Jesus added

"So we will be. And I'll see us through this. I made progress with them today. You saw it." Gregory tells us

"That's not what I saw." Jesus mentioned

"Yeah? Well, it's what happened." Gregory said and walked around me over to Maggie and Sasha, "We play nice, they play nice. See, dear? Saviors can actually be quite reasonable." He tells Maggie and she punched him then I see her reach down and grab Hershel's watch

"You son of a bitch" I tell him clenching my fist

"It's a fine watch. Doesn't need to be left out in the rain."

"This is our home now. So you'll learn to start to call me by my name. Not Marsha, not "dear," not "honey." Maggie. Maggie Rhee."

* * *

"When I got here, Gregory was already in charge. Thought the people chose him for a reason. Looking at it now, I think it just happened. I didn't like how he did things. But I couldn't imagine anyone else in his place. I can now." Jesus told us

"Who?" Maggie asked and I looked at her then Jesus

"We'll talk about it sometime. I should've talked to Gregory sooner. I'm sorry. Hopefully, you'll let me make it up to you.

"We will." She tells him and looked back out the window

"The gates are closed."

"Wait, they're still loading up outside." I tell her

"I'll see you back at the trailer." She tells Sasha and leaves

"If you want to make it up to us...can you find where Negan lives?" Sasha asked him

"One of the trucks is going back there, so...yeah, I can do that."

"And get Daryl?" I asked and he put his hand on my shoulder

"Can you keep it between us, just you, me and Sam?" Sasha asked

"No Maggie?" He asked ehr and she shook her head, "I don't like that."

"Me neither, but she doesn't need this right now." I said

* * *

"Enid." Sasha said as we walked into their trailer and I saw the girl sitting next to Maggie at the table

"Hi. I - I came to help."

"You came by yourself?" I asked her

"Yeah. Have some dinner."

"Why are there balloons on Abraham's grave?" Sasha asked as we sat down

"I didn't have the heart to tell you. Glenn would've. He was a bad liar." Maggie says

"Sorry." Enid told Sasha

"There's no need to be sorry. Nothing wrong with balloons."

"There's nothing marking the graves."

"Nope," Maggie pulls out the watch, "I was gonna use this for Glenn's. It was my dad's. He gave it to him. But I'm giving it to you. We don't need anything to remember him by. We have us." Maggie tells us and I grab her hand then Sasha's, both Maggie and Sasha grabbed Enid's, "For this new morning, with its light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything that goodness sends." Maggie said in prayer

"Amen." Her, Enid and Sasha said

"Amen" I add and Maggie squeezes my hand

* * *

"Please be safe" I tell Jesus as he gets ready to leave and he walks over to me

"I will be, I have someone to come back to"

"Oh yeah, who's that?" I asked with a smile and he kissed me

"An amazing girl right here in front of me," He tells me and I kiss him wrapping my arms around his neck and the kiss grew more passionate, "I love you" He said and I looked at him in shock

"You..."

"Love you, with everything I am." He says and puts my hand on his chest, "You brought this back to life, and it's yours" He said and a tear falls down my cheek but he wipes it

"I love you too, and you have my heart as well. Come back to me, and bring me my brother"

"I'd do anything for you" He says and I kiss him again almost not wanting to let him go but he looked at me one more time and left.


	9. Chapter 9

**Surviving the Dead**

I waited a painfully long time for Jesus to come back he left yesterday and I was hoping he was safe, hoping he can save Daryl, I wanted to go with him but I knew he wouldn't let me. I got taken out of my thoughts when I hear a sound, a motorcycle, I get up off my couch and look out the window, I feel like I'm gonna fall over when I see it, my brother. I open my door and ran as fast as I could, he looked up and saw me coming as I jumped into his arms and cried. He tightened his arms around me burying his face in my neck, I look up and see Jesus standing next to the bike, _Thank you_ I mouthed to him and he smiled nodding his head.

* * *

"I'm sorry Sam" Daryl tells me as I finish cleaning his face and cuts

"For what?"

"Leavin' ya" He says and I grab his hand

"Don't, don't be sorry, you were taken and I can't...I don't want to imagine what happened to you, but your here now." I tell him and there was a knock on my door then shortly after Jesus walked in

"I brought you some clothes to change into." He tells Daryl setting them down on the table

"Thank you" Daryl says to him and I get up walking over to Jesus

"Thank you so much" I tell him as I hug him, I didn't care if Daryl saw it so I moved my head back and kissed Jesus on the lips lightly, he looked at me shocked then I saw him look past me and I turned to see Daryl looking at us

" 'Bout time" Daryl says and I stick my tongue out at him

"I'll leave you two alone" Jesus said and kissed me on the head then left

"Don't even" I warn Daryl and he looked at me

"What?"

I sat back down on the couch in front of him, "I know you wanna make a comment, don't."

Daryl grabbed my hand, "Just this, if he hurts you, I'll kill him"

"I'm sure you would." I tell him and he grunts, "Well I'll let you get changed and rest, and before you argue you're staying in here and taking my bed, I'll take the couch."

"Sam..."

"Ah! No, no arguing it's settled." I tell him and stand up walking out

* * *

Later that night after Daryl managed to fall asleep I got up from the couch and quietly opened the door then shut it, I walked over to the house and opened the door to the entry way, walked up the steps and knocked on Jesus's door, after a pause the door opened and he looked at me confused, "Samantha is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to come see you" I tell him and smiled then motioned for me to come inside then shut the door behind us, I looked around the room then faced him, "I wanted to say thank you again for bringing him back to me."

"You don't need to thank me, I told you I'd do anything for you."

I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him, He put his hands on my hips deepening the kiss, I couldn't help but moan into his mouth as he ran his hands up my sides and pulled me closer to him. He moved us towards his bed and we laid down with him above me, he trailed kisses down my neck to my collarbone, I put my fingers in his hair as he slid his hands up my side giving my breast a squeeze and I moaned tightening my grip. He shifted his hips positioning himself between my legs and I moaned again as I felt the bulge in his pants push against me and I moved my leg so that it was resting against his hip. He pulled his head away and looked at me, "Are you sure?"

I leaned up and kissed him, "I'm sure." I tell him and he kissed me again running his hand under my shirt and up to my breast, I moved mine to the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head throwing it on the floor then ran my nails lightly down his chest, he groaned into my mouth and god was it hot, then he removed my shirt as well throwing it to join his. He moved his lips from mine to my neck then to the tops of my breasts above my bra, I bit my lip tightening the grip in his hair as he moved back to my mouth and moved his hands to the waist line of my pj pants and pulled them down with my underwear then I did the same to him. He looked at me and brushed some hair away from my face then lightly kissed me at first then deepened it before finally pushing into me

"Oh!" I moaned as he moved his hips, he started slow then moved a little faster kissing my neck at the same time, "Oh god!" I moaned out loud as we moved together

"Oh Samantha" He grunted and I gripped his shoulders

"Oh..Jesus." I moaned in response as he moved even quicker, "OOHH!" I moaned as I threw my head back reaching my peak then shortly after he grunted a few more times then finished as well and we just laid there looking at each other

"Words can not tell how much I love you" He tells me and I giggled

"Ditto" I said and he kissed me once more before moving to lay next to me and I snuggle up to his chest, this moment could not be ruined by anything right now, I won't let it I was laying in bed with the man I loved, who just risked his life to go save my brother and find out where the Saviors are.

* * *

The next morning I woke up still in Jesus's arms, I turned and faced him then lightly kissed him. He shifted then opened his eyes and looked at me smiling, "Morning beautiful"

"Morning." I said and he pulled me into another kiss and it grew more passionate, he moved so he was above me then trailed kisses down my neck, I moved my fingers into his hair and he moved back to my mouth taking his hand running it down my side and shifted my leg so it was on his side and I did the same thing to the other and he pushed into me again

"Oh god" I moaned and we went at it again then finally got up and got dressed then headed out of the house, I see Daryl walking out of my trailer so I walked over to him as Jesus went to talk to someone.

"Hey" I greeted and he looked at me then Jesus then me again

"Hey, sleep well?" He asked with a small smirk

"Shut up" I tell him giving him a light shove, "Do you want to see them?" I asked referring to Glenn and Abraham's graves and he nodded his head then I put my arm through his and walked him over there and Jesus walked over. I heard Daryl sniffle as we stood there so I pulled him into a hug, "It's not your fault" I whispered to him and he tightened his arms around me, I knew he blamed himself for Glenn and he really didn't need to, it wasn't his fault.

Suddenly we hear Maggie yell for me, Sasha and Enid, I put my hand on Daryl's arm squeezing it then headed over to her as she stood by the gate which opened and I see Rick and the others standing there, Rick walked in and went right to Maggie hugging her, "You're okay?" Rick asked her

"I'm okay, baby's okay - all of us."

"You were right right from the start. You told us to get ready to fight. I didn't listen, and I couldn't. I can now." Rick tells her and I see Jesus and Daryl walking out from where the graves were, I see Rick look over and he goes over to them as me and Maggie hug the others. I smile when as Daryl and Rick hug then Tara walks over and hugs him as well followed by Michonne, I walk over to them and Rick gives me a side hug as Daryl pulls Rick's gun from his pants and hands it to him. I stand next to Daryl and he puts his arm around my shoulder. Rick looks at all of us and then we start walking towards the house.

* * *

"No! No way in hell. That was not the deal. You people swore you could take the Saviors out, and you failed. So any arrangement we had is now done - null and void. We aren't trade partners, we aren't friends, and we never met. Hmm? We don't know each other." Gregory tells Rick then sits down in his chair, "I owe you nothing. In fact, you owe me for taking in the refugees, at great personal risk."

"Oh, you were very brave staying in here while Samantha, Maggie and Sasha saved this place. Your courage was inspiring." Jesus tells him from next to me

" Hey, don't you work for me? Aren't we friends?"

"Gregory, we already started this." Rick points out to him

"You started it."

"We did. And we're gonna win." Rick says

"These are killers."

"Is this how you want to live? Under their thumb, killing your people?" Rick asked

"S-Sometimes we don't get to choose what our life looks like. Sometimes, Ricky, you have to count the blessings you have."

"How many people can we spare? How many people here can fight?" I asked him

""We"?" He scoffed, "I don't even know how many people we have, Sandra."

"Samantha"

"And does it even matter? I mean...w-w-what are you gonna do? Start a platoon of sorghum farmers? 'Cause that's what we got. They grow things. They're not gonna want to fight."

"You're wrong. When people have the chance to do the right thing, they usually step up. I mean, people just -"

"L-Let me stop you before you break into song, okay?" Gregory said cutting Tara off, "And, by the way, who would train all this cannon fodder?"

"I will."

"Give me a week." Rosita and Sasha spoke at the same time

"Rhetorical, okay?" Gregory sang and I rolled my eyes, "I don't want to know. I never want to hear another word about any of it, ever."

"Would we be better off without the Saviors, yes or no?" Rick asked him and I could sense the anger in his voice

"Yeah. Sure. Okay."

"So, what will you do to fix the problem?" Michonne asked

"I didn't say we had a problem. You did. And what happens outside of my purview is outside of my purview."

"What the hell, man? You're either with us or you ain't. You're sitting over there talking out of both sides of your mouth." Daryl tells him and I look at him

"I - I think I've made my position very clear. And I want to thank all of you for not being here today and not having this meeting with me or - or being seen on your way out. In other words, go out the back."

"You know what you are Gregory?" I asked walking over to him feeling Jesus trying to stop me, "You're a spineless little bitch who would rather do what's best for himself then the people he supposedly cares here. When shit hit's the fan, and I can guarantee you that it will, and the Saviors come and finally kill you, I hope they mount your head on their wall with a plaque that reads, "Here lies Gregory, coward" I spit out at him and walked out with the other's behind me.

"Walking ball sack." Rosita said as we exited

"Wanna knock that idiot's teeth out." Sasha adds

"Yeah, well, we don't need him anyway." Daryl says

"Yeah, that's right. 'Cause we have Maggie, Sam, Sasha and Jesus here." Rick points out and I look at him

"And..Enid" Maggie adds as Enid walked in

"Hey, um -"

"What's wrong?" I asked her

"Nothing. Just...come outside." She said and we walked out seeing a group of people standing there

"What's going on?" Maggie asked them

"Hey. So, if you don't remember, I'm Bertie. And I owe my life to you all, twice over. A bunch of us do. Enid says that you want Gregory to get us to fight the Saviors with you. Is that true?" She asked

"Yes."

"Do you think we can win, that we really could beat them? Us?" Bertie asked her

"I do."

"Well, Enid says you could show us the way. I'm ready." She said and the rest of them agreed.

* * *

"It's a start." Michonne says as we walk towards the gate

"We'll get more. It still won't be enough." Sasha adds

"No, it won't." Rosita agreed

"Well, we find the right stuff, then maybe we don't need the numbers. Blow 'em up, burn 'em to the ground." Daryl points out

"You said there weren't just soldiers with the Saviors, that there were workers there. People didn't have a choice." Tara says to Daryl

"We gotta win."

"We need more hands, another group. Negan has outposts. The geography, the distance works against us. We gotta get back. If they come looking for Daryl, we need to be there." Rick points out and I look at my brother

"You don't have to get back. Not yet." Jesus tells them and they stop, I see him pull out a walkie holding it up, "It's one of theirs, long range. We can listen in, keep track of them."

"So, if we're not going back, what are we doing, then?" Michonne asked and I looked at Jesus with a smile then looked back at them

"I think it's time we introduced you to Ezekiel. King Ezekiel." I tell them

"King?" Rick asked

* * *

"It's called "the Kingdom"?" Rick asked Jesus as we got out the vehicle outside of the Kingdom

"Yeah. I didn't name it."

"How much farther?" Rick asked

"Well, technically, we're already here. I mean, we're always here, but here we are - at the Kingdom. Well, its outer edge." I tell him and the truck door opens and Daryl pokes his head out

"Hey, what the hell we waitin' on?"

"Waiting for them." I tell him and we see a couple people ride over on horses

"Who dares to trespass on the sovereign land of the-" Alvaro started to say but looked at me and Jesus, "Oh, shit. Sam, Jesus, is that you?"

"Who are all these people, Paul?" Richard asked him

"Hi, Richard. Nice to see you."

"It's good to see you, too. Sam," He said and I gave a small nod, "Your friends, who are they?" He asked again

"This is Rick Grimes. He's the leader of a like-minded community. These are some of his people. We would like to request an audience with King Ezekiel."

"Get out of the car." Richard tells the others after getting off his horse walking over to us and the others get out, "You say they're a... like-minded community. Like-minded how?"

"We live, we trade, we fight the dead. Sometimes others." Jesus tells him

"Line up."

"Okay. This is a waste of time. Come on. Let's go." Daryl says

"Daryl" I tell him

"Maybe you're right. The King is a busy man. And it's a dangerous world. We don't usually allow a pack of strangers to waltz through our door." Richard tells them

"We want to make the world less dangerous, and we are all here to show the King how serious we are about that." Michonne says to him

"The car stays outside. You gotta hand over your guns."

"We only have two." Rick says and both him and Carl take out their guns and hand them to Richard

"Okay. Follow me." Richard tells us and we start walking, I was standing next to Jesus and fell him grab my hand holding it, I look at him and he gave it a light squeeze before letting go and we walk next to Richard, "Before we go in, you have a brain and a backbone, so I'm talking to you, not Gregory. Whatever you're trying to start here, another protection pact, a trade, none of it matters if we don't start dealing with the real problem-the Saviors." Richard tells me and Jesus

"You know, Richard, I've never seen you smile. I think that's gonna change today." Jesus tells him and I smile.

* * *

"They have the numbers." Michonne says as we look at the residents

"But can they fight?" Rosita asked

"Oh, they can fight." Jesus answered

"Morgan?" I hear Tara ask and I turn around seeing hi walk over

"Hey." He said hugging her then Sasha, "Hi."

"How do you know each other?" Richard asked

"We go back to the start." Rick tells him

"Well, the King is ready to see you." Richard informed us and we walk in while Rick and Daryl stayed back for a bit to talk to Morgan then followed us after as we entered the room Ezekiel was in.

"Jesus! Sam! It pleases me to see you, old friends." Ezekiel greeted as we stand by the door

"It pleases him, indeed!" Jerry repeats

"Jerry." Ezekiel said and looked at us, "Tell me, what news do you bring good King Ezekiel? Are these new allies you've brought me?"

"Indeed, they are, Your Majesty. This is..." Jesus tells him and we face the others who are staring in shock at Shiva, "Oh, right. I forgot to mention that-"

"Yeah, a tiger." Rick says and Shiva roars

"This is Rick Grimes, the leader of Alexandria, and these are some of his people." Jesus finished as we walked forward

"I welcome you all to the Kingdom, good travelers. Now, what brings you to our fair land? Why do you seek an audience with the King?" Ezekiel asked

"Ezekiel - King...Ezekiel. Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom-all three of our communities have something in common. We all serve the Saviors. Alexandria already fought them once, and we won. We thought we took out the threat, but we didn't know then what we know now. We only beat one outpost. We've been told you have a deal with them, that you know them. Then you know they rule through violence and fear." Rick says to him and me and Jesus look at the King

"Your Majesty, I only told them of the-"

"Our deal with the Saviors is not known among my people-for good cause." Ezekiel says cutting Jesus off, "We made you both a party to that secret when you told us of the Hilltop's own travails, but we did not expect you to share-"

"We can help each other." Jesus cut Ezekiel off

"Don't interrupt the King." Jerry tells him

"We brought you into our confidence. Why did you break it?" Ezekiel asked

"Because we want you to hear Rick's plans." I tell him

"And what plans have you, Rick Grimes of Alexandria?" He asked Rick

"We came to ask the Kingdom, to ask you, to join us in fighting the Saviors, fighting for freedom for all of us."

"What you are asking is very serious." Ezekiel tells him

"Several of our people-good people-were killed by the Saviors, brutally." Michonne told walking up next to Rick

"Who?" Morgan asked

"Abraham. Glenn. Spencer, Olivia. Eugene was taken." Rosita tells him

"They took Daryl. He escaped. Every second he's out here, he's a target." I added

"You gonna say you were right?" Rosita asked him

"No. I'm... I'm just real sorry they're gone."

"Negan murdered Glenn and Abraham, beat them to death." Rick says and I put my head down closing my eyes and I feel Jesus put his hand on my back, I look up at him and nod my head

"Terrorized the Hilltop, set loose walkers just to make a point. I used to think the deal was something we could live with. A lot of us did. But that's changing. So let's change the world, Your Majesty." Jesus says to Ezekiel

"I want to be honest about what we're asking. My people are strong, but there's not enough of us. We don't have guns - not enough, at least. Not a lot of weapons, period." Rick mentioned

"We have people. And weapons. If we strike first, together, we can beat them. Your Majesty, no more waiting for things to get worse beyond what we can handle. We set things right. The time is now." Richard says to him

"Morgan, what say you?" Ezekiel asked him

"Me?"

"Speak." He tells him

"People will die. A lot of people, and not just the Saviors. It...If we can find another way, we have to. Maybe it's just about Negan-just capturing him, holding him. Maybe...I -"

"The hour grows late." Ezekiel said standing up and Shiva growled, "Rick Grimes of Alexandria... you have given the King much to ponder."

"Well, when I was a kid, uh, my mother told me a story. There was a road to a kingdom, and there was a rock in the road. And people would just avoid it, but horses would break their legs on it and die, wagon wheels would come off. People would lose the goods they'd be coming to sell. That's what happened to a little girl. The cask of beer her family brewed fell right off. It broke. Dirt soaked it all up, and it was gone. That was her family's last chance. They were hungry. They didn't have any money. She just...sat there and cried, but...she wondered why it was still there...for it to hurt someone else. So she dug at that rock in the road with her hands till they bled, used everything she had to pull it out. It took hours. And then...when she was gonna fill it up, she saw something in it. It was a bag of gold. The king had put that rock in the road because he knew the person who dug it out, who did something, they deserved a reward. They deserved to have their life changed for the good...forever."

"I invite you all to sup with us and stay till the morrow." Ezekiel tells us

"Yeah, we need to get back home." Rick says to him

"I shall deliver my decree in the morn."

* * *

I was sitting on the bed after supper when I heard a knock on my door, I got up opening it seeing Jesus standing there, "Hey you"

"Hi" He replied walking in shutting the door, and before I knew it he pulled me to him kissing me deeply and I wrapped my arms around his neck

"Well hello to you too." I giggled and he smiled

"Sorry, I can't help but want to kiss you every time I see you"

"Well I think I can deal with that." I tell him and he kissed me again moving us over to my bed and laid me down with him on top, "Not that I don't mind but is it really the time and place for this?" I asked him and he looked at me

"Do you want to stop?" He asked and I smiled then kissed him

"Not at all"

"Good," He kissed me again then moved his lips to my ear, "Because I wasn't going to." he whispered in my ear and it sent chills down my spine as he kissed me again pushing his tongue into my mouth.

* * *

"This is life here. Every day." Ezekiel tells us as Richard walked us over to where he was, "But it came at a cost. And I wanted more of this. I wanted to expand. To create more places like this. Men and women lost their limbs. Children lost their parents because I sent them into battle against the wasted when I did not need to."

"This is different." Rick tells him

"It isn't."

"It is. The dead don't rule us. The world doesn't look like this outside your walls. People don't have it as good. Some people don't have it good at all." Rick says

"I have to worry about my people."

"You call yourself a damn king. You sure as hell don't act like one." Daryl said

"Daryl" I whispered to him and he looked at me then back at Ezekiel

"All of this... came at a cost. It was lives, arms, legs. The peace we have with the Saviors is uneasy, but it is peace. I have to hold on to it. I have to try. Although the Kingdom cannot grant you the aid you desire, the King is sympathetic to your plight. I offer our friend Daryl asylum for as long as he requires it." Ezekiel tells us and I look at Daryl who shifted next to me, "He will be safe here. The Saviors do not set foot inside our walls."

"How long do you think that's gonna last?" Daryl asked him and he walked away

"Daryl." I said following him with the others shortly after

"All right, open it up. We're gone." Daryl tells the man at the gate when we arrive and it opens

"You're not." Rick says to him as the others but me and him walk out

"I'm not staying here. You have to. It's the smartest play. You know it is."

"I agree with Rick on this one Daryl, if they come to either the Hilltop or Alexandria who knows who they will kill, I lost Merle..don't make me lose you too" I said and he pulled me into a hug

"Try to talk to Ezekiel. Or stare him into submission - Whatever it takes. We'll be back soon." Rick tells him and walks away

"I love you big brother." I told him and he hugged me again, I hated this but it was right, I just got him back again and now I have to leave him in a different place

"Love ya too" He said and I walked out going up to Rick who was waiting for me and the gates closed

"It'll be ok" He says and I look at him as we walk

"I know, it just...it hurts"

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "I know."

* * *

We drive on a highway and I was sitting next to Jesus who was holding my hand when suddenly Rick stopped the car and we look out to see a bunch of cars blocking the road

"Someone's trying to block the way. Gotta be the Saviors." Jesus says looking out the window

"Look. I think that's their base over there." Carl tells us and I look out the other window seeing what looked like a factory in the distance

"Yeah, that's it. Must be trying to make it hard to get to them." Jesus mentioned

"We gotta keep going. We'll move them, and then we'll move them back. They don't need to know we were here." Rick says turning the engine off and we get out

"What's all this for?" Michonne asked as we looked a a wire going across some cars with explosive on it

"Wait. When I was hiding in the back of the truck, I heard a couple of them talking about this. This is for a herd."

"Yeah, don't think your off the hook for that young man" I tell and he puts his head down

"That's why it's a steel cable. It's not just for one walker. It's for a lot." Rosita points out

"We need these explosives." Sasha tells Rick

"Yeah. But we have to figure out how to disarm it first."

Rosita lifts up a piece of metal revealing the hook up to the explosives

"Uh... Okay." Tara says moving back a little

"Backing up is not gonna make a difference if this thing goes off." Rosita tells her

 _"We got ourselves a red situation. I need a search party. See if Daryl ran home like the dumb animal that he is."_ We hear Negan say over the radio

 _"On it. Be there in time for lunch."_

 _"Turn that sleepy little burg upside down._ " Negan finished and I ran my fingers through my hair

"We gotta go. We gotta get there before them, but we need these. We need to clear a path anyway." Michonne says to Rick

"Yeah. Rosita?"

"First part's done." She tells him removing the battery

"What now?" Michonne asked her

"We gotta unwrap the secondary explosives - the dynamite, the RPGs. Make sure these casings are not messed up, and do not mess them up, either. This thing could still blow."

"You all heard her. Let's go." Rick tells us and we all head over to the wire each bending down by one and I checked mine then took out my knife getting to work, I look over at Jesus who looked at me as well giving him a small smile then focused on the task. I put my knife on the cord holding the explosive and cut it, I missed the dynamite but I got the side of my hand

"Ah damn it" I cursed but kept it steady then set it on the ground

"What happened?" Jesus asked rushing over and saw my hand

"I'm okay." I tell him and he grabbed out a cloth wrapping it around my hand then tying it, "Thank you" I said and he kissed my hand and we moved to work on more of the explosives.

"You can load the explosives into the trunk as long as they're in good shape. No dents, no tears. They're not live. They still need to be triggered to be set off." Rosita tells us then goes over to Tara, "Not that one. I don't like the way it looks."

"Okay." Tara says and Rosita takes one bringing it over to the ditch

"Dad. Look." Carl says and we look to see a herd coming our way

"Okay. There they are. But they're far. We still have time."

"You sure?" Michonne asked him

"We need these. And we need to get the cars back in front of the on ramp."

"They'll know we took their explosives, so does it matter?" I asked him

"We want that herd to stay on the highway."

"Why?" Tara asked him

"We may need it."

"Okay. Tara, Carl, come on!" Rosita tells them and they get in the car starting it

"Uh...Rick..." Sasha says and we see the heard getting closer

"All right. Sasha, Sam, Jesus, can you get back to the Hilltop on foot?" He asked us

"Yeah." I tell him

"Tell Maggie we're not giving up. Go!" Rick says and we start to run heading back

* * *

I cleaned myself up and changed my clothes when there was a knock on my door, "Come in" The door opened and it wasn't Jesus like I was expecting it to be but rather Sasha, "Hey, everything okay?" I asked her

"Yeah um..." She said and shut the door, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, shoot" I tell her putting my dirty clothes into the hamper

"Are you and Jesus...together?" She asked and I looked at her

"Um...what?"

"I saw you two at the kingdom, in the car, then on the road when you cut your hand" She tells me and I sighed

"Yeah, it happened um...it happened when we got back here...after.."

"What happened with the Saviors?" She asked and I nodded my head

"I didn't want us to say anything, yet at least, we had just lost Glenn and Abraham and I didn't want to..."

"Sam, relax, I'm not upset. I'm happy for you, he's good guy, and I know Maggie will be happy too." She tells me and pulls me into a hug then there was a knock at my door again, "Bet I know who that is" She says and I chuckle

"Come in" The door opens and sure enough Jesus walked in looking between us, Sasha smiled at me then walked out

"What was that?" He asked me

"Oh um..she knows..'bout us"

"Oh how?" He asks

"She saw everything from the Kingdom to when we were taking the explosives." I tell him and he puts his hands on my hips

"Is it a bad thing?" He asked me and started trailing kisses down on my neck

"Um...no..she told me she was...happy for me." I tell him

"Mmhmm" He mumbled against my neck

"You know it's very distracting when you do that" I said wrapping my arms around his neck

"Not as distracting as you are when you dress like this" He indicated to my tank top and skinny jeans

"Maybe I should start wearing less revealing stuff then" I mention and he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me over to my bed sitting down so I was straddling his lap

"Don't you dare, besides I get distracted by how beautiful you are as well"

"Flattery will get you everywhere mister." I tell him and started kissing him but this time I kissed his neck and he groaned against my lips as I gave light nibbles, suddenly my door opened and I jumped off him seeing Maggie standing there.

"Oh god I'm sorry I should have knocked." She says and turned around facing the door

"I'll just um...yeah" Jesus said and walked past her leaving then she faced me

"Everything ok?" I asked her and she looked at me with a smirk

"Really? Gonna change the subject?"

"What?" I smiled

"When did that happen?"

"Um...when we got back after..." I tell her and she nodded her head

"How come you didn't tell me?"

I walked over to her and grabbed her hand, "You just lost your husband...we lost Abraham, I didn't want it to seem like I was rubbing being happy in your face."

She pulled me into a hug, "I would've been okay with it, it's great that you're happy and I'm happy for you."

I looked at her and smiled, "Thank you Maggie."

"Anytime...now should I send him back in so you can finish?" She asked with a smirk and I chuckled

"No, how about we talk, we haven't really talked just the two of us in a while"

"I'd like that" She says and we sit down on the couch and start reminiscing about everything that's happened since this all began and shared memories of Glenn and she told me some stuff about Abraham. It felt great talking with each other again, she was like my sister, and no matter what I would protect her, and their baby.


	10. Chapter 10

**Surviving the Dead**

"Hey Glenn, it's Sam" I said sitting in between the graves, "I know I haven't come to visit since...but I'm finally sucking it up. I honestly don't even know where to begin, I guess I should start off by saying I miss you...a lot and I'm looking after Maggie for you, and the baby which by the way thank you for making me godmother." I say with a chuckle, "Negan took Daryl after everything had happened but Jesus brought him back, speakin' of Jesus we um...well we're together, and I know what your say "You finally found someone to handle the Dixon attitude?" well yes I did. He...I can't even describe it but if I had to, it's like what you and Maggie had, he'd do anything for me and vice versa. Don't worry about Maggie, I'll do anything to make sure her and the baby stay safe even if I have to sacrifice myself."

"That's never going to happen" I hear Jesus say and I jumped

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked him and he walked over to me

"Long enough to hear you tell him about us, and the last part."

I smile and look down then he pulled me into a hug, I cried a little and he kissed the top of my head, I let out a small laugh and he looked at me confused, "Sorry, I didn't know Abraham very well but I can picture him saying "Get that lovey dovey crap off my grave" and Glenn telling him to shut up"

"You sure are a strange girl"

"But you love me anyways" I tell and he kissed me

"And I'll never stop" He says and I kissed him again, then I hear someone call my name from the gate and I walked over to there seeing Daryl.

"Daryl what the hell are you.."

"I ain't sitting back at the Kingdom when I know you guys need me here." He tells me and I sigh

"What if they find you here? Hmm? How am I suppose to..."

"This ain't open for debate, I'm staying" He said cutting me off and I sighed again

"Fine, lets get you set up in my trailer I guess."

"I'm not gonna kick you out of your trailer." He says

"Well that prick isn't gonna want you in the house, besides I can...stay with Jesus in the house"

"I don't need to know that" He tells me and I punch his arm

"Shut up" He holds his hands up in defeat and we head to my trailer getting him settled in and I bring what I need into the room Jesus has.

* * *

Over the next few days we started training people, Sasha trained them on how to use a knife, I trained them on how to throw them, and both me and Jesus trained them on hand to hand combat, although we would get a little distracted when we would show them what to do because he looked so damn hot doing it. Me and Enid both stood in the medical trailer with Maggie as Dr. Carson checked on the baby and we saw him/her on the screen, I was holding Maggie's hand and I smiled at her, the baby really was strong like it's parents. Daryl avoided Maggie, because he still feels guilty for what happened to Glenn, I looked out the trailer when Maggie went out to the little grill we had to get more food, she walked over and set a plate down next to Daryl who didn't even look at her, I saw her walk back and stopped while wiping tears away and I sighed. I sat with Jesus on the bed in their trailer while he drew Sasha a layout of Negan's compound and I was putting together a surprise I had been working on for Maggie. I noticed she was asleep when Jesus stood up walking over to Sasha and I got up draping a blanket over her.

* * *

 **Jesus POV...**

"Sorry for taking over your trailer." Maggie says to me as we sit on the steps of the trailer

"Oh. I grew up with a lot of people around. I'm used to it."

"Big family?" She asked

"Uh group home. This isn't like that, though. Not the bad parts, at least. For the first time, I feel like I belong. Trying to make sure you and Sasha became a part of this made me a part of this. When I was first here I was never here. I, um I always found it hard getting close to anyone - neighbors, friends, girlfriends."

"You seem to be doing great with Sam." She tells me and I smile

"She..makes it easy, when I first brought her here she was closed off, didn't talk to anyone, just went out and hunt then stayed in her trailer. I knew it was because she was sad about not knowing if Daryl or any of you were alive or not, finally she began to open up to me and became a valuable member here, she told me that even though she missed you guys it felt like home here and that she hadn't felt that way in her life, even before the world turned into what it is now."

"Her and her brothers didn't have a great life growing up, her and Daryl were always close but her and Merle weren't" She tells me and I nod my head

"I kind of figured that when she would talk about Daryl more then Merle"

"Yeah, she still misses Merle though, she may not show it but I know she does. You're good for her, I can see it, and I'm sure Daryl sees it too" She says and we stand up and start walking away from the trailer, "I'm gonna talk to our blacksmith about making more spears. Maybe we can trade with the Kingdom for some body armor. Thing is, what we really need is riot gear." Maggie points out and we see Sasha and Samantha standing there, Maggie outs her hand on Sasha's shoulder and I grab Samantha's hand giving it a quick kiss as we walk by.

* * *

 **Samantha POV...**

Me, Jesus and Enid walk over to their trailer walking in to see Sasha holding a book, "I was looking for something to read the other day."

"You can have the bullets. I didn't know you had a gun." Jesus tells her

"I didn't. I do now."

"Sasha, don't go - not yet." I plead with her and she sighs, "Rosita didn't come here to train people. You're both going after Negan. But you can't do that without people. A lot of people." I tell her

"We've talked about this. I know what you think and I appreciate that. But I'm not gonna change my mind. She's not." She says and looked at Enid, "Does Maggie know Rosita's here yet?"

"Uh, I-I-I don't think so. I didn't...you should tell her. About all of it."

"No. Not yet. Sh- I'm still - I'm still getting ready. And the thing is, Rosita is going, with or without me. So it should be with me." Sasha tells us

"Then I'll go, too." Jesus says to her

"Me, too." I add

"No. The Hilltop has to be ready for what happens after. Maggie needs you."

"She needs you too." Jesus says

"Not anymore. She has everyone else, and they have her."

"You can stay. I know you can. But I know you won't and she won't, but I wish you would. 'Cause it's a long life, and then it isn't. You can take anything else you need. But you and Rosita need to talk to Maggie. You owe her that much." Jesus said to her then walked back over to the counter grabbing a few things and leaving

"Listen Enid Maggie trusts you. You have to protect her, you both do, no matter what. She's the future of this place I know it." Sasha tells me and Enid, "So are you." She tells Enid and reached into her back pocket, "Hold on to this for me. It's for the baby. Maybe you can work on it while I'm gone." She says handing Enid some yarn

"Okay. Sasha" Enid says and Sasha looked at her

"Yeah."

"In 10 minutes, I'm gonna tell Maggie what's going on. It's up to you what you want to do with that. I'm doing what you asked." Enid said and walked out, I looked at Sasha and nodded then followed her

After a few minutes the guy at the gate starts banging some pipes, "The Saviors are coming! The Saviors are coming!" He yells and I book it over to Daryl with Enid

"We have to get Maggie." I tell him as he stands up

"Where is she?" He asked and we ran away over to Maggie

"We'll never make it in time." Maggie tells us and we run towards a cellar opening the door

"Just stay down there. We'll keep them away." I tell them as they get in

"They aren't the same ones who came to Alexandria." Enid says and we shut the door latching it.

"Come on" I tell Enid and we run away, I stop and she looked at me, "Go to the garden and gather up a few things, if anyone goes over there we can try and distract them with that." I tell her and she nods heading over there and I go over to Jesus as we see some Saviors go into the house, I see a Savior head over to over by the cellar and I nod my head at Enid and she follows him. I then see one head over to the trailer their staying in and I look at Jesus then walk over to him, I couldn't have him seeing anything of Maggie and Sasha's in there.

"Can I help you?" I asked him and he smiled at me

"Hey pretty thing, I was just looking around you know, we're looking for someone"

"Well whoever it is your looking for is not in there. That's my trailer." I tell and he smirked at me, I wanted to kick this guy in the nuts so bad right now

"Well hey now, how about you give me the grand tour" He says getting closer to me running his hand on my arm making me want to vomit, and I knew Jesus was watching so I put my hand behind my back telling him not to do anything

"Oh see I would but I'm into girls and I don't think my girlfriend would be to happy about that." I lied, I knew that was a mistake telling him that but he moved away putting his hands up in surrender

"Fair enough, I'll just look elsewhere." He says and walked away, I sigh in relief then turn to look at Jesus who looked like he wanted to rip the guys head off. Just then I see the one Savior guy exit the medical trailer with Dr. Carson following him and they put him in the truck

"Oh crap" I said under my breath, after the Saviors left I walked over to Gregory, "Are you kidding me?" I asked him and he looked at me

"Listen Sandra.."

"Samantha" I corrected

"It was out of my hands, there was nothing I could do."

"What about Maggie? Huh? She needs him and you just let them take him" I tell him

"Maggie is not my concern okay? The people here ar..." I cut him off punching him in the face and he looked at me in shock

"You're only concerned about yourself, not anyone else here." I said and walked away heading to the cellar.

* * *

 **Jesus POV...**

I get to Gregory's study and knocked on the door, "Come in"

"Freddie said you wanted to see me?"

"Yes have a seat" Gregory tells me and I sit, "I noticed you've been slacking on your scavenging and recruiting lately. And there are too many people in your trailer. Fire hazard. Plenty of room here at Barrington House for our guests. Speaking of which, I have job assignments for the newcomers. People are gonna stay, they're gonna chip in. No more free rides on the teat." He tells me handing the book over

"You let them take Dr. Carson. Surprised you didn't kneel again. You must be really worried if you're trying to split everyone up."

"Shouldn't talk to me like that. Who knows what might happen with all these Saviors coming around" He says and I look at him

"Did you just threaten me?"

"I was being sarcastic, okay?" He tells me

"No, I think you just threatened me."

"Think what you want. You know, what I'm saying is, I look out for my friends, and I realized we're not friends. But if the Saviors find out who your...girlfriend is, they might try to use her to get to Daryl, you never know" He said and I resisted the urge to jump over that desk and kill him, it's one thing to threaten me, but no one and I mean no one threatens Samantha.

Just then there was a knock at the door, "Come in." He says and Cal walked in holding a bottle, "Ah, wonderful - tequila. Crack that open for me, would you?" He looked at me "You may go now. Show him out, will you, Cal?" He tells him and I walk out heading to the room I now shared with Samantha. I opened the door seeing her sitting on the bed reading and she looked up at me and smiled. I may be in a rage at Gregory right now but she is so beautiful.

"Hey you" She greeted and I walked over to her kissing her, "Well that was unexpected, but enjoyable" She smirked and I sat down in front of her and held her hand, "Jesus what's wrong?"

"Will you marry me?" I blurted out and she looked at me shocked

"What?"

"I'm sorry I didn't to spring it on you I just...you told me life is to short and it's true. I love you and I would die to protect you and I know you would for me, you make me better man and I want to spend this life with you everyday. Will you marry me Samantha Lee Dixon?"

She kissed me then put her hands on my face, "Yes" She said and I smiled then kissed her again, there was a knock on the door, I get up and opened it revealing Daryl

"Everything okay?"

"Where's Sasha and Rosita?" He asked and I looked at Samantha.

* * *

The next day me, Jesus and Daryl head to Alexandria and Tara told us some interesting news, "They-They have guns. A lot of them. I saw it."

"What?" Daryl asked her

"That group. Um, the women I met. They have an armory. They have guns."

"Why didn't you tell us before now?" Rick asked her

"I made a promise, Rick"

"Are you ready if this goes south?" He asked

"It won't."

"If it does, you don't need to feel bad." He reassured her

"I do feel bad. I will."

"Tara you don't have to." He says to her then later we head out

* * *

 **Jesus POV...**

Me and Daryl hook up the explosives and I get up carrying the box on the other side of him as he unravels the wire, "I should've tried harder to stop Rosita and Sasha. If they'd have just waited one more day"

"Well, Sasha's a good shot, and Rosita knows how to take care of herself. Probably back at Hilltop right now. Least I hope so. We're gonna need 'em. There's a whole lot of people still got to die." He tells me and I look over at Samantha who was keeping a look out for walkers and any other people

"I asked Samantha to marry me" I told him and he looked at me

"What?"

"I know I should've come to you first but...in this world we should we should hold on to the things that matter, to the people who matter to us and...I love her, I want to live out my days with her by my side." I tell him and he nods his head

"Well I approve, you make her happier then I've ever seen her. You got my blessing"

"Thank you" I tell him and we got back to work.

* * *

 **Samantha POV...**

"On the ground now." Daryl tells 2 women who were headed to the armory, "Those hands - Put them on your head." one girl gets on her knees but the other stays put

"Please." Jesus begged and she gets down then he goes and ties her wrist while Daryl waved a rag to signal Michonne and we walk them to the other women

"Get down over there. Keep quiet." Daryl tells one woman and the 2 women sit down

"Now, we made a lot of noise. We want to wrap this up quick so you can send people to redirect anything coming this way. Tara said your forests are relatively clear, so we won't take any chances. No one needs to get hurt. This is just about what you have, what we need." Rick tells them and I see Tara coming over with a couple more people and the older lady has Tara at gun point

"Nobody's taking anything. You need to let everyone go and leave right now. Just walk away or this one dies.

"Yeah, we'll leave you alone. But we're taking your weapons with us. That's not gonna change. It's Natania, right? Put the gun down, and let's talk about what we can change." Rick pleads with her

"No. Leave right now."

"Michonne, don't!" Tara yells at her

"We just wanna be left alone." Natania says

"Yeah, we'll leave you alone. Just let go of her. Now. Or we'll kill you. None of us want that." Rick tells her

"They want us to fight The Saviors." the girl next to Tara says to the other women

"We tried that. We lost. Too much. We're not gonna lose anymore - not our guns, not our safety, not after everything we've done to get here." Natania mentioned

"We're gonna win - with your guns, with or without your help." Tara says

"Natania, put the gun down." Rick tells her

"You kill me, and you die. And my people take the guns and nothing changes.

"Maybe we should try." I hear a woman say and I look at her

"Grandma, stop. It's over. Just talk to them, okay?" The girl whispered to Natania

"It's not over! They've forgotten. You've all forgotten. Some of you actually want to fight them? After everything? We can lose our guns, but us leaving this place to fight? After everything? I have to remind you! Yes. I am gonna do this, and then I'm gonna die. But it's that important. This is your life, all of you. Remember what it looks like. Remember what they did to us! You need to see this. Open your eyes!"

"Rick! Walkers!" Michonne yells to us, the girl punches Natania and we turn to see a small heard heading towards us and I raise my gun

"Everybody up! Get the children behind us! They're coming."

"First shift, join them on the line. Knives out. Dead only. Dead only!" A woman instructed and we make a line in front of them

"Everyone, shots within 10 feet of the line. That's it." Rick tells them and I cock my gun and look at Jesus who nods at me as the walkers get closer, "Now!" Rick says and we start shooting, a few of the women start stabbing them and I see a little girl get one and we finish them off. Jesus puts his hand on my shoulder then Natania stands up

"No. We're not fighting them with you. So take your damn guns and go." She says walking away.

* * *

After we get back to Alexandria I see Rosita as she opens the gate for us, "Hey, are you okay?" Enid asked her

"Where's Sasha?" I asked

"There's someone here." She tells us and we head to the cell and when she opens it I see Dwight sitting there, I went to move forward clenching my fists but Jesus held me back then suddenly Daryl rushed forward.

"Daryl!" I shouted but Rick stopped him

"Whoa. Whoa, whoa! Slow down. Come on."

"He says he wants to help us." Rosita tells us

"That true? You want to help?" Rick asked him

"I do."

"Okay," Rick says and pulls out his gun cocking it, "Get on your knees."


	11. Chapter 11

**Surviving the Dead**

"Look at me." Rick tells Dwight, "Why?"

"'Cause I want it stopped. I want Negan dead."

"So why don't you kill him?" Rick asked

"Can't just be me. They're all Negan."

"That girl you murdered she had a name." Tara says to him walking over to him bending to look at him, "Her name was Denise, and she was a doctor. And she helped people."

"I wasn't aiming for her." Dwight tells her and Daryl moved past her pinning him to the wall holding a knife to him

"Do it. Do it." Tara said to Daryl

"You wanna end it this way you go ahead. I'm sorry. I am. I know you want to." Dwight pointed out to Daryl

"He could just be here to see if you were here." Rick says to him

"We can't trust him." Michonne adds

"He owned me. But not anymore. What I did, I was doing it for someone else. She just got away. So now I'm here. So are you because of her." Dwight tells Daryl

"Do it!" Tara pushes

"There's another choice." Dwight pleaded, I walked up to him slowly putting my hand on his arm and I feel him tense

"Daryl."

"Daryl, you knew her." Tara says to her

"Negan trusts me. We work together, we can stop him. You knew me then, and you know me now. You know I'm not lying. I'm not."

"Do it. Do it!" Tara demanded, Daryl still holds his knife at Dwight

"Daryl" I said and again and after a few minutes he puts his knife down and hands it to me

"They have Sasha, if she's even alive." Rosita tells us and we all look at her

"Why didn't you say something? He could be our only chance to get her back." Jesus says to her

"Because I don't trust him. But I trust Daryl."

"Negan's coming soon. Tomorrow. Three trucks probably. 20 Saviors and him." Dwight tells us and I do an internal groan, "I can slow them down, bring some trees down in the road, buy a little time for you guys to get ready. If you can take them out, that's where we start. You kill them, I'll radio back to the Sanctuary."

"The Sanctuary?" I asked him

"Where Negan lives. That's what they call it. I can radio back to them and say everything's okay. You drive the trucks back, and I can lead you right inside, and, with the right plan, we can wipe out the rest. Check to see if your friend's still alive. Then, we get the workers on our side, build our numbers up, and go from outpost to outpost and end this." He explained

"I hate to admit it but it's a good plan" I tell Rick

"Keep talking."

* * *

The gate as they shut after Dwight leaves, "We just started it-the whole thing." Rick tells Daryl as me, Michonne and Jesus stand behind them

"If he's lyin', I'm gonna kill him real slow. When this is done, I don't give a damn if he's sorry. I will kill that son of a bitch."

"If he's lying, this is already over." Rick says and walks away from him coming up to me, "Sam, I want you and Jesus to take Judith to the Hilltop, she'll be safe there."

"Jesus and Enid can take her there, I'm staying" I said to him and Jesus looked at me

"What?"

I turned and faced him grabbing his hand, "I have to be here, they need me."

"But.."

"I'll be fine, I got Daryl here, I got Rick, I'll be okay" I tell him and he puts his hand on my face

"Promise me you will be safe."

I kissed him and leaned my forehead against his, "I promise, I still plan on marrying you." I say with a smile and he kissed my head then pulled me into a hug

* * *

 **Jesus POV...**

"So we don't have Oceanside, but we have their guns. Negan has Sasha. Daryl wants us to trust Dwight. Rick wants us to stay here in case things go wrong so there's another card to play, another safe place the Saviors think they control. But he doesn't know that Gregory's gone that maybe he's telling them things that'll make them think something else." Maggie says to me and Enid as we stand in the study

"And it's all about to happen." I added

"You're thinking of leading the Hilltop over there to fight." Enid says to her

"I am. If Negan finds out they're planning something, they're gonna need help, even with those Scavengers on their side."

"Well, you'd have to decide right now, and it's a very tough decision." I mention to her with a smile

"Why are you smiling?" She asked me

"'Cause I'm glad you're the one making it for us."

"How do I?" She asked me

"I don't know. I just know you can." I answered and Judith coos, Maggie went to pick her up but Enid stopped her

"Let me take her. You take this." She hands her the pocket watch picks Judith up and leaves

"How's Sam doing?" She asked

"She's doing ok, at least that what she wants me to believe but I know she's scared, not just for Daryl but for everyone"

"You two planning on getting married after today?"

I chuckled and put my head down then looked at her, "I actually wanted to marry her yesterday night before me and Enid left, but she told me she wants you there," I tell her and she smiled, "She also said she doesn't want this battle to be the reason we do it, it takes the romance out of it."

"Sounds like her. Get her a ring?"

I chuckled, "No the jewelry store was closed" I tell her and she smiled

"Glenn got mine off a walker, I was a little weirded out to be honest but it came from him, and he knew I would want something to know that."

"I just don't feel right leaving her there, who knows what could happen." I said

"She'll be fine, she's got Daryl, when those two fight together nothing can stop them." She says and I nod my head

"She truly is amazing, that's why I love her."

* * *

"Rosita. Get into position. I'll signal you. And the wall's gonna hold?" Rick asked her from up on top of the gate

"It'll hold."

I look at Daryl as we hear vehicles approaching, he gave my hand a light squeeze and I went back to what we talked about earlier

 _"Sammie I want you to do me a favor."_

 _I looked at him after I loaded my gun, "What's that?"_

 _"If they try to take me again..."_

 _"Daryl.._

 _"Sammie, if they try taking me again, I want you to kill me" He tells me and I look at him_

 _"Are you hearing yourself?"_

 _"Listen," He says and puts his hands on my shoulders, "You are my baby sister and I love you, I would die to protect you, but I won't go back to that place again."_

 _"Daryl you can't ask me to do that, please"_

 _"It has to be you Sammie, I don't wanna leave ya but it's the only choice." He tells me wiping the tear that fell from my eye onto my cheek_

 _"Ok"_

"All points are covered. Every contingency is already met. I come armed with two barrels of the truth. A test is upon you, and I'm giving out the cheat sheet." We hear Eugene tell us over a mega phone as he rides on the back of a truck to the gate followed by the others, "H-Hello. I come salved with the hope that it is my dropped knowledge that you heed. Options are zero to none. Compliance and fealty are your only escape. Bottom-lining it - You may thrive, or you may die. I sincerely wish for the former for everyone's sake. The jig is up and in full effect. Will you comply, Rick?"

"Where's Negan?" Rick asked him

"I'm Negan."

After hesitation Rick looked at Rosita signaling her, she presses the button for the explosives and I turn my head squinting my eyes but nothing happens, I look at Daryl then suddenly the Scavengers pull their guns on us and both me and Daryl raised ours and we hear a truck door open and shut.

"You ever hear the one about the stupid little prick named Rick who thought he knew shit but didn't know shit and got everyone he that gave a shit about killed? It's about you. You're all gonna wanna put your guns down now." Negan tells him

"No one drops anything."

"You push me, and you push me. And you push me, Rick. You just tried to blow us up, right? I mean, I get me, my people. But Eugene? He's one of yours. And after what he did - He stepped up. You people are animals. Universe gives you a sign, and you just shove your finger right up its ass." He says sticking his middle finger in the air, "Dwight, Simon, chop-chop," He tells them and they get on the truck Eugene is on and start undoing the tie downs on a coffin, "So, you don't like Eugene anymore. You guys gotta like Sasha." He points out and my heart stops I do, too. Got her right here packaged for your convenience, alive and well. Now, I brought her so I wouldn't have to kill all of you, and not killing all of you could get complicated. See, I know there's a lot of firepower left in there, Rick. So I'm gonna make this simple. I want all the guns you've managed to scrape up. Yep, I know about those, too. I want every last grain of lemonade you got left. I want a person of your own choosing for Lucille. Daryl - Ooh, I gotta get me my Daryl back. I see you." Negan says to my brother and I step in front of him feeling Daryl grab my arm, "Ho-ly crap would you look at that, he's got a bodyguard" He chuckles then looks at each of us, "Now hold on, wait, is-is that your sister?" He asked and I looked at Daryl then back at Negan, "It totally is, I think she might have even bigger balls then you do Daryl." He smiled then looked back at Rick, And I want the pool table and all the pool cues and chalk. And I want it now or Sasha dies, and then all of you. Probably. C'mon, Rick. Just because I brought her in a casket doesn't mean she has to leave in it." Rick stays quiet, You know what? You suck ass, Rick. You really do. I don't want to have to kill her, but that's exactly what you're gonna make me do."

"Let me see her." Rick tells him

"Oh. All right. Just give me a second. I might have to get her up to speed. You can't hear shit inside this thing," He says and bangs his bat on the coffin, "Sash. You're not gonna believe this crap." He opens the coffin and suddenly Sasha comes out, but it's not Sasha, it's a dead person wearing her body, "Holy goddamn!" Negan yells as they fall to the ground as she tries to eat him, Carl started shooting his gun at the Scavengers up top and both me and Daryl started taking out the ones around us then soon others joined in.

"Sammie come on follow me!" Daryl tells me and we make our way out from behind the car and continue shooting

"Duck!" I yell at him and he does so as I shoot one of the Scavengers I saw coming towards him out of the corner of my eye. He shoots his gun killing another person then runs over taking theirs and we take cover shooting out when we could, "Cover me!" I tell him and he did so as I moved put from behind and went over to behind a house and we killed three more.

"Sammie behind ya!" Daryl yells but before I could turn around and react I hear grunting then turned around seeing Jesus slicing the guys throat

"I got your back beautiful" He tells me and I smiled then Maggie walked up

"Let's do it"

We walk down the street and I see Shiva attacking one of the Saviors then King Ezekiel and his people come in as well as Carol, "End these Saviors and their accomplices! Alexandria will not fall, not on this day!"

"Phalanx out, third group, now!" Maggie tells the people of the Hilltop

"Move up! Now we got your backs!" Daryl adds and we kill and kill a few more, I ended up splitting off from Jesus then I feel someone knock my gun out of my hands, I look to see it was a Scavenger, I whipped around punching him in the face then kneed his gut but suddenly he grabbed my arm when I went to swing again and knocked me to the ground, he holds up his gun up and was about to shoot when Shiva attacked him, she looked up at me when she was done and I smiled

"Thanks girl" I tell her and she runs off again and I grabbed his gun and mine then met back up with Jesus

Suddenly I see a flare go up then the area gets covered in smoke and we all move behind the RV, "Their falling back"

"Eduardo, Bertie, between the houses- Cover the gate!" Maggie tells them and they leave, "Let's go." She says to me and Jesus and we move out as well and head out into the woods, as we walk through we hear a growling and raise our guns but we stop, Sasha was moving towards us, Jesus looked at me and Maggie then moves over taking her to the ground, tears sting my eyes and I look at Maggie who is barely trying to hold it in and I put my hand on her shoulder

"You don't have to do it" I tell her and she looks at me

"I do" She says and pulls out her knife walking over then hesitated before killing her, she stands up and I walk over to her her, she pulls me into a hug and we both cried for our lost friend, our family member.

* * *

 **Maggie POV...**

"Do you think Sasha did that herself?" Rick asked me

"I don't know how, but I know she did."

"She gave us a did. You made the right decision to come." He says to me

"The decision was made a long time ago, before any of us knew each other, when we were all strangers who would have just passed each other on the street before the world ended. And now we mean everything to each other. You were in trouble. You were trapped. Glenn didn't know you, but he helped you. He put himself in danger for you. And that started it all-From Atlanta, to my daddy's farm, to the prison, to here, to this moment now not as strangers-as family because Glenn chose to be there for you that day a long time ago. That was the decision that changed everything. It started with both of you, and it just grew to all of us to sacrifice for each other to suffer and stand, to grieve, to give, to love, to live to fight for each other. Glenn made the decision, Rick. I was just following his lead."

 **A/N: Oh that hit my heart hard *sniffles and wipes away tears* I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far and again positive and negative voices are welcome but mainly just enjoy.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Surviving the Dead**

"When I first met him Jesus said that my world was gonna get a whole lot bigger." Rick tells all of us as him, King Ezekiel and Maggie stand on the back of a truck, I look at Jesus who smiles at me and kissed my head while holding my hand running his finger across my ring, he gave it to me a few days after our battle with the Saviors then the next day we got married. We had Father Gabriel preform it and had it at Alexandria, I married the man who saved me almost a year ago, who was my best friend, that was the best day of my life, "Well, we found that world. We found each other. That"bigger world" is ours by right. That we've come together for it, all of us it's that much more true - it's ours by right. Any person who would live in peace and fairness, who would find common ground it's their right, too. But those who use and take and kill to carve out the world and make it theirs alone - we end them. We don't celebrate it. We don't have shame about it, either. There's only one person who has to die and I will kill him myself. I will. I will. But if it's the others the others who prop him up, stand by his side, even those who just look the other way - so be it. Then we keep making the world bigger. Together."

"Together. Bound forever! To quote The Bard, "For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother." Ezekiel says putting his hand on Rick's shoulder, "For she today my sister." He does the same to Maggie and Shiva roars, I look over at her and smile.

"We've practiced. We've been through it over and over again. We all know the plan doesn't end this morning. That we may have to live in uncertainty for days, maybe more. That we have to keep our faith in each other. If we can hold on to that with everything we have, the future is ours. The world is ours." Maggie finishes

* * *

"You up to this?" Rick asked Maggie as we stand in a field surrounded by the armored cars we made

"I got the Hilltop to stand against the Saviors. I need to be there. At least for the first part. They say you can wage war through the second trimester. I've been fighting since the farm. Can't stop now." She says and I wrap my arm around her shoulder and she smiled at me

"How about tomorrow?" Rick asked her

"You been thinking about what that looks like?"

"Yes, I have. I don't know if I can wait for it." He says and I look at Jesus who smiles at me

"Just one more fight. And I'm gonna be there. At least for the first part."

"I'm told the Hilltop lost their doctor. An obstetrician, no less" Ezekiel mentioned

"Samantha's been learning what she can from the books Carson has, she's been doing what she can to help" Jesus tells him and I smile at him, it was true, since Dr. Carson got taken by the Saviors I spent almost every night in the medical trailer reading what was there, practiced a C-Section on a few walkers just in case like Carol did for Lori.

"We have a doctor in the Kingdom. A woman of talent. Join us."

"We'll get ours back." Jesus adds, not gonna lie, I would love to be the one to bring my godchild into the world but I was terrified, I actually did hope that we would get Carson back

"Yes, Jesus. Yes, you will. As sure as the day defeats the night. And on this day, we begin to reshape this world for your child" Ezekiel says to Maggie and looked at me, "and the children to come." He tells me and I looked down trying to hide a smile as Jesus put his arm around my waist and pulled me to him, "So let's get started."

* * *

We drive up to the sanctuary by the place where they keep the walkers, parking our cars with the homemade armor facing the building, I looked at Jesus who leaned over and kissed me then we got out, once we all lined up against the cars Maggie raised her hand signaling us to raise our guns then put her hand down and we started firing just a few single shots

"Well shit." I hear Negan say, "I'm sorry, I was in a meeting. I see you got your little mudflaps with you. So I'm not exactly feelin' a reason for us to try throwin' lead at each other. I care about my people. I don't want to just march them into the line of fire because I want play "my dick is bigger than yours". It is. We both know it. But I'm also comfortable enough to accept the fact if it wasn't. I'm certainly not gonna let my people die over that shit like you're about to. So, Rick, what the hell can I do for you?"

"Dwight." Rick says pointing at them, "Your name's Simon. You're Gavin. And you"

"Regina." She answered

"Rick, I'd feel remiss if-" Eugene started to say but Rick cut him off

"No. I know who you are. Listen, you five. The Saviors inside. All of you have a chance to survive here. To survive this. You all can live if you surrender. Can't guarantee it any time but now. Right now.

"So they surrender and you and your little piss patrol doesn't kill them. That sounds like a good deal! What about me, Rick?" Negan asked him

"I told you. Twice. You know what's going to happen."

"I do. I do know what's gonna happen. You don't. You have no idea the shit that's about to go down. Let me ask you something, Rick - Do you think you have the numbers for this fight? You don't. Simon?" Negan tells him and I peak through watching him go into the building then come out, with Gregory, Maggie turns and looks at both me and Maggie

"Of course that's where he went." Jesus pointed out and I tighten the grip on my gun

"What do you have to say to the Rick and the piss patrol, Gregory?"

"The Hilltop stands with Negan and the Saviors. Any resident of the Hilltop who takes up arms or who supports this ultimatum against the Sanctuary or any of the Saviors, for that matter - they will no longer be welcome in the colony." He says and I clench my jaw

"And?" Negan asks

"Their families will be thrown out and will be left to fend for themselves."

"And?" Negan asked again

"Go home now. Or you won't have a home to go back to."

I see a lot of our residents look at Maggie, "You do what you need to do." She tells everyone

"All I have at the Hilltop are a bunch of books and an old lobster bib" Jesus says and looked at me, "All I need is my wife" I smiled at him and he put his hand on mine telling me to loosen my grip, I do so and he smiles

"I just need you...and my bike" I said and he chuckled

"You heard the man. Go back to separating wheat and shit or whatever the hell it is you people do.

"Doesn't look like anyone's goin', does it?" Maggie asked Negan

"Hilltop stands with-"

"The Hilltop stands with Maggie!" Jesus says cutting Gregory off

"I feel like I invested a lot in you, and I am very, very disappointed." Simon tells Gregory backing him up then pushing him down the stairs then suddenly we hear and explosion in the distance.

"Sounds like shit is goin' down, Rick.

"You "lieutenants" you're gonna have to make up your minds.

"Maybe we can take a time-out here-" Gavin started to say but Negan cut him off

"No."

"This has to happen now. This is the only way." Rick says and Negan stays quiet, "You're gonna make me count. "Okay. Okay. I'm counting. 10! 9! 8! 7!" He cocked his gun and started firing and we all followed shooting at the windows.

"Now!" Maggie yells and we start moving backwards getting in the cars and drive away

* * *

"I don't want to wait for it anymore. You don't either." Rick tells us getting off the truck," - Yeah, I know. So we don't have to wait for it. If we start tomorrow right now with everything we've beaten, everything we've endured, everything we've risen above, everything we've become If we start tomorrow right now no matter what comes next we've won. We've already won." He says and we all cheer

* * *

That night we returned to the Hilltop just to rest before we hit more outposts tomorrow, I was in my trailer, well mine and Jesus's now, getting changed when he walked in.

"Hold on, there's something wrong with this picture." He says and I face him

"What is?"

He walked over to me and put his hands on my hips, "You have clothes on" He says and I roll my eyes smiling and he kissed me then moved his lips to my neck lightly biting it

"Mmm" I lightly moaned biting my lip, "What are your intentions with me mister?"

"Well, I have a very sexy wife who I plan on showing exactly how much I love her, and tell her how hot she looked today."

"Mmm I love it when you say wife." I tell him and kissed him, he backed us over to the bed and laid me down while not breaking the kiss.

"I love saying it," He says and removes my shirt throwing it onto the floor, I unbuttoned his shirt taking it off of him and he kissed me sliding his tongue into my mouth, I moaned fisting my hands into his hair and he worked on taking off my pants moving his mouth from mine down my jaw to my neck kissing and biting at it then moved down to my breasts kissing the tops of them while squeezing them

"Oh Jesus" I moaned and he moved down to my stomach running his hands up my sides then moved further down, "What are you..." I started to ask but threw my head back when I felt his mouth and tongue run along my thighs before he started attacking my center with his mouth, "Oh god Jesus!" I moaned putting my fingers in his hair again biting my lip, I bucked my hips against him when I felt him insert two fingers and started pumping them while still licking and sucking my center, I grabbed a pillow and put it over my mouth because the walls of this trailer are kind of thin, "Oh God!" I moaned into it as I orgasm, I started panting as he kissed his way back up before wiping his mouth.

I moved my hands down and unbuckled his belt undoing his pants then slid them down and he positioned himself between my legs propping one of them on his arm and pushed into me then started moving his hips going slow at first but then picked up the pace, I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my lip as he started kissing my neck. Next thing I knew he pulled out of me and turned me around so I was on my stomach and he lifted my hips and he entered me again, I couldn't believe how turned on I was right now seeing this side of him

"Oh Samantha" He moaned picking up the pace and I gripped my hands into my pillow

"Oh god! Oh...OHH!" I moaned as I hit my peak again and after a few more thrusts and grunts Jesus finished as well. I laid down and he laid down next to me, we were both panting pretty hard trying to catch our breath, "Wow, just...wow" I said and he chuckled before pulling me to him

"I told you I was gonna show you how much I love you, and you looked incredibly hot today."

I giggle and kissed, "You always tell me that"

"I know, I only say it because I still can't believe someone so beautiful, strong, and amazing ended up with a guy like me.

I move myself propping on my elbow looking at him, "You're amazing, and wonderful. I would have fell for you even if the world didn't end up like this."

He kissed me and when I pulled back I thought I'd tease him so I lightly bit his bottom

"Mmm don't you dare do that because I don't think I have the strength for another round."

I moved so I was hovering over him and smiled, "Who said you were gonna do the work this time?" I asked him and kissed his lips then chest and worked my way down

"What are you talk..." He started to say but stopped as soon as I put lips around his member, "Oh my god Samantha."

* * *

"Looks like they made themselves a moat." Jesus tells me, Morgan, Diane, Tara and a few other people as we stand outside another outpost, "I guess we shouldn't be surprised, considering."

"We can do this. We did before." Tara says to him and cocked her gun

"Yeah. That's what I was considering."

"I wasn't here before. Just need a clear shot. Right, Dianne?" Morgan asked her

"Just a few seconds."

"So we just need to time it right." Morgan points out

"They see us, they fire a gun, we're not getting in." I mention

"Don't let them fire a gun, Dianne." Morgan tells her

"Morgan, do you need us to cover you or something?" Andy asked him

"I do not."

"Hey, we're here to help. It shouldn't just be you." Freddie tells him

"I don't die."

* * *

We make our way into the out post after Diane takes out the guards, as we make our way down Jesus shoots a guy who came around the corner, then we both raised our guns taking out the two at the end of the hall. We look at each other then at Morgan, after a moment of silence he signals Dianne who signals the others to come in. Me, Tara, Jesus and Diane head down one hallway while the others go down the one the guards were at, we get down another set of halls and a couple people take a door, me and Tara are standing next to one that says "Tom says 'Kill the Bitches'" I roll my eyes then see Jesus signal to everyone to hold, Tara grabs the door knob of the one we're by, after a long pause Jesus drops his hand and everyone busts open their doors and started shooting. Tara opens our and we make our way in with Jesus following us, then we hear whimpering come from the closet, me and Tara move over keeping our guns aimed at it while Jesus stands in between, I look at him and he nods his head, I lift my foot up and kicked the door open.

"Please! Please don't shoot me! Please don't." The guy begs raising his hands

"Huh. Oh, look, you pissed your pants." Tara points out

"I-I'm not one of them. Uh, m-my name's Dean."

"Why are you still talking?" Tara asked him keeping her gun raised

"Tara, wait. Just wait." Jesus says to her trying to get her to back down

"For what?"

"He has his hands up, Tara." I point out to her

"We have a job to do."

 _"We all have jobs to do"_ I hear Hershel's voice in my head then there's rapid gunfire in the distance

"You want to go check that out?" Jesus asked her and she sighed then left, Jesus aimed his gun at the guy and I followed

"We're missing some people from the other team." I hear one of our people tell Tara as she opened the door

"Morgan?"

"Come out." Jesus gestured to Dean and he gets up moving out of the closet

"Just stay in there. We're on top of each other here. We'll signal you when it's clear. Just be ready." Dianne tells her

"I got it, Jesus, Sam. Step aside." Tara says to us walking back over pointing her gun at the guy

"Tara." I warned her

"There's a firefight outside. We don't even know if Morgan's alive."

"Please, lady. I'm not one of them." He pleads to her but something doesn't feel right

"You're here. You had a gun. You are one of them."

"I'm not. I'm not. You got to believe me." He tell us

"Then what are you doing here?" I asked him

"I'm just a worker. They brought me from the Sanctuary to cook, clean, whatever. They did not give me a choice. They made me leave my wife and kids. Your people do this to the Sanctuary, too? The families okay?" He asked

"We don't want to hurt the workers. We're not going to." Jesus says

"You believe him?" Tara asked

"It's not about him. I'm not gonna shoot someone with their hands up, and I'm not letting you." Jesus argued

"These medical supplies-they're the Hilltop's, right? Maggie's prenatals. They took them because they could, because they don't give a shit. So why should we?" Tara asked

"I know they killed your girlfriend.." Jesus started to tell her

"Jesus-

"That you loved her. And believe me when I say I would want revenge to if I lost Sam but this isn't you." He finished and I looked at him

"It is now."

"We're not here for revenge. It can't be about that." I tell her

"It can."

Suddenly a gunshot hit the door window, Jesus ducked giving the guy the chance to grab Jesus's arm and push him into a shelf, then he picks him up holding a gun to his head, me and Tara both raised ours and I looked at my husband.

"I wouldn't. You know what's funny? Normally I'd peg you as the softie, not pretty boy. You know how hard it is to piss yourself on purpose? I-It's like your dick knows you're wearing pants." He says to us and smashed the bottle of prenatals, "Aw, hell, look that. Well, that shit is ruined. Well, looks like that dumb bitch Maggie and her kid are just gonna die, anyway, Just like you two." He said and I tightened my grip and pointed it at his head

"Samantha" I hear Jesus say and he lightly shook his head

"I'm gonna kill you." I said through my teeth

"Oh, honey, no, you're not."

"Then someone else will. There's too many of us." Tara adds

"See, that's where we differ. If I take the three of you with me, then I've got one hell of an insurance policy. So why don't you put that thing down unless you're gonna shoot through this beautiful man here. I'm not gonna ask you again."

"I think my wife's gonna shoot you." Jesus tells him

"I am."

"Yeah. She is." Jesus points out

"Shut up!" Dean tells Jesus

"Samantha-"

"I can do it." I cut him off, I'm not losing my husband, not today

"Samantha, he has a gun to my head."

"Not for long." I tell him

"Wait. Wait. Wait a second."

"Go to hell." Tara says to Dean

"Okay. So you really wanna risk it, huh? Me for him? Well, I can tell you right now that I am not worth it. We can work this out. I-I may talk a big game like I'm a tough guy, but I'm not. I really just want to" He points his gun at me and Jesus moves his arm up then hits the guy in the gut and knocks him to the ground.

"You're not gonna do it. Not you."

"It's not about revenge. It's about getting it done." Tara tells him, Jesus knocks him out then grabs some rope, "What the hell are you doing? He tried to kill us." Tara asked him

"I told you - it's not about him."

"So he gets to live? What about Abraham? Glenn? Denise?"

"This is different."

"You're not Rick. You're not Maggie." Tara pointed out to him

"Tara" I said in a warning tone

"No. But she'll hear what I have to say."

 _"Evac Sat 1! Evac Sat 1!"_ We hear someone say over the guys radio

"Jesus! Sam! Tara!" We hear Dianne yell and we open the door moving behind her "They're falling back!"

"Go! Go! Go!" We hear someone yell as we look down the hall

"There another way out of here?" Dianne asked

"Yeah. Follow my lead." Jesus tells her and we head back the way we came.

* * *

"Circle the door, wide, at least 20 feet." Jesus tells everyone as we make our way behind the building where they used to keep their cars, "Guns up, but hold your fire."

"What?" Tara asked him

"They're gonna give up. We only fire if they fire first."

"They fire first, one of us dies." Dianne tells him

"Then let's hope, for my sake, that they don't." He says and looked at Tara, "You can try to stop me." Just then the drop slides open, "Drop your weapon! Drop your weapon and surrender." Jesus warns the guy standing there

"Living sounds good to me." The guy says putting his gun down, "We're surrounded. Don't be as dumb as they think we are. Put your guns down."

"It's okay. We can do it the hard way. Because even if Maggie listens to you, Rick will listen to me." Tara tells Jesus and we look at her, then the rest of the Saviors put their guns down.

* * *

We all stand there keeping our guns on the group of Saviors when I look and see Morgan walk out, "Shit. I know you." A Savior says to him and Morgan walks over. "You get transferred, too?" He asked and Morgan raised his gun

Morgan!" I yelled running over to him putting my hand on his shoulder, "Lower your gun."

"We came here to kill them. We're supposed to."

"They surrendered. It's not what we do." I tell him and he takes his gun away from the guys chest

"Then what do we do, huh?" He asked me and walked away

"What do we do?" I asked Jesus and he put his hand on my shoulder

"We'll figure it out"


	13. Chapter 13

**Surviving the Dead**

Me, Morgan and Jesus walked with the Saviors we took prisoner back to the Hilltop, one of of them wouldn't stop whistling and it was getting on my nerves until I saw Morgan elbow him then walk up to us, "We're not far. From the Hilltop. We're far from somewhere else, I guess. We made our decision-"

"Nothing's been decided." Morgan tells Jesus cutting him off from behind me as I walked in front of them

"Well, nothing's permanent except impermanence, I guess. In that way, I'll agree. But we are taking these men to the Hilltop. That's where we're going, and that's what we're doing."

"You know how dangerous this is? Who these people are?" Morgan asked him

"No matter what they've done They're people. There's many kinds of danger, many kinds of dying. I kill. I've killed. You do. You have. But we don't execute."

"I have." Morgan tells him

* * *

"You okay? Do you need to get in the truck with truck with Tara?" Jesus asked me walking up to me.

"No I'm good" I tell him with a smile and I hear someone do a wolf whistle at me, Jesus groaned and looked back, "Don't" I said to him and he looked at me

"I just don't like them looking at you like that."

"I know hun and neither do I but it's gonna happen. Besides, you're the only one who gets me in your bed at night." I said with a wink and he smiled

"Walkers on the Hill!" Someone sounded and we turned raising our guns up seeing walkers rolling down and we start shooting at the ones that stood up, Jesus walked over and stabbed one then Tara shot another.

"Let's, let's go, let's go!" I hear a Savior shout and they make for the woods and I see Morgan follow

"Morgan!" I shouted after him but he kept going, I looked at Jesus and we followed

"Don't shoot! Please! We give up!" We hear a Savior beg and I see Morgan point his gun back up but Jesus knocked it away, Morgan swung around to hit him with it but he ducked

"Morgan. Stop."

"C'mon. On your feet. Let's go." I warn the Saviors pointing my gun at them and a few people from the Hilltop joined us and took them away

"They ran off to get away. Then what happens after?"

"We stopped them." Jesus tells Morgan

"And they keep trying. Again and again. What? You think they were gonna come back? That they will change? That they will be something else? It doesn't change. It never changes. Once you turn-"

"Morgan. We're gonna find another way. Maggie will find another way." Jesus says cutting him off

"Really think she won't want 'em dead? Every last one? After what they've done? And it isn't just them. 'Cause we're here now, to be this, do the same thing they do, but we go on. You see, we are the same-"

"Morgan." Jesus tried to say

"We're the same. We're the same, so there's no choice. Everybody turns, but w-we w-"

"There's war, and then there's peace. We're gonna have to live with these people after. We're gonna have to find a way to peace." Jesus cuts him off then puts his hand on his shoulder, "Morgan" Morgan looks at him then shoved Jesus backwards then grabs his stick swinging it down but Jesus ducked then stood up and kicked Morgan in the gut, Morgan holds his stick up and they stand there for a moment looking at each other then Morgan swung it down again but Jesus moves and kicks Morgan once more, "Okay, you're having a little trouble." Jesus says but Morgan starts swinging his stick at him but Jesus keeps moving out of the way then punched him, "You wanna stop now?" Jesus asked and Morgan just looked at him, "Maybe not?"

Morgan jabbed his stick into Jesus's stomach then hit him on the arm

"Morgan!" I shouted as he swung the stick but Jesus grabbed it and kicked him, Jesus went to kick him again but Morgan tripped him with his stick then went to stab him but Jesus moved getting up then knocking Morgan to the ground, they continue fighting until Morgan pinned him to the ground then Jesus kicked him and got up, he grabs the stick as Morgan goes to swing it at him again and kicked Morgan backwards still holding the stick.

"Is it over, Morgan?" Jesus asked him and threw the stick back to him and he swung it keeping it at Jesus's neck

"Morgan" I tell him walking over to them "Is it?"

Morgan shifted his eyes then looked at us, "What?" He asked taking his stick away then backed up, "I'm not right. I know that - I'm not right. But that doesn't make me wrong. I can't be a part of this."

"Morgan. You are right." Tara tells him as they walk over, Morgan looked at her then walked away in the other direction stopping to look at the dead savior then continued

I looked at Jesus who put his hand on my face then kissed my head pulling me into a hug.

* * *

"We are not letting them in! No way! With what they did? With what they do? They are monsters!" Gregory tells me and Jesus as we stand at the gate

"Gregory-" Jesus started to say

"No! This is not a sanctuary for killers. We'll be putting the safety of everyone in jeopardy! "Get out of here." Maggie warns

"I know what they are. I have stared into the face of th-"

"Gregory! Go." Maggie demanded and he walked away

"He actually came back after all that." I said to her

"And I actually let him in."

"No offense, Jesus, but I kind of agree with that prick." Tara tells him walking up to us

"There are families here. Children. Your wife" Maggie tells him and he looked at me then her

"There's two empty trailers out back. We could lock them up in there with 'round-the-clock guards until this whole thing is over. And go from there."

"You know what they've done to us. What they've taken from us." Maggie says to him

"Of course I do. But they surrendered."

"Jesus-" She started to say while looking at him

"We can't let them go, and we can't kill them. We can't."

* * *

I finished cleaning up when Jesus walked in, "Hey"

"Hi" I responded not turning around and I feel him put his hands on my shoulders

"Are you mad at me?"

I sighed and faced him, "It's hard for me to be mad at you, but...even with them outside the gate I still don't feel safe."

He pulled me into a hug, "I know baby, their under guard, it's gonna be ok."

I looked up at him and smiled, "Always mister positive" I tell him and he smiled

"So earlier you mentioned something about me being the only one who gets you in bed," He says and I giggled as he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him as he brought us over to the bed then laid me down lifting my shirt up and planting kisses on my stomach before moving up to my mouth, "And that's how it's gonna stay." He tells me and I kissed him flipping him over so I was on top

"It always will be." I said and pulled my shirt off throwing it, I started unbuttoning his shirt and threw it off of him. He flipped me onto my back and undid my pants pulling them off and I did the same to him then I moved my fingers into his hair as he started to lightly rub me down there teasing me, "Don't you dare tease me husband." I groaned at him, he smirked at me and started to insert two fingers. I gasped in surprise and kissed his lips biting the bottom one to contain the scream that threatened to escape my mouth as he curled his fingers and started pumping them faster.

I was feeling so many things at once I couldn't control myself, I moved my free hand down wrapping it around his member, he lets out a growl as he gripped my thighs and moved them so I was wrapped around his waist and he inserted himself in me. I tightened my legs around him as he started to move his hips with a slow pace that quickly picked up. I gripped his shoulders and bit my lip to fight the moan I wanted to let out, Jesus's hand went into my hair and his other arm went around my back and he moved us up so that I was straddling his lap again. I started to rock my hips and he gripped them helping me move, our movements became frantic and needy as we both got closer to reaching our peak. I bit down on his shoulder as my orgasm hit and not to long after I felt Jesus twitch inside me as he gave one last grunt as he rode out his. He laid me back on the bed and got down next to me pulling the blanket over us, we were both trying to catch our breaths and I laid my head on his chest.

"God I have an amazing wife." He tells me kissing the top of my head and I giggled

"Oh stop I'm not that special"

He put his finger under my chin lifting my head to look at him, "You are to me, you're everything to me, and I love you more and more each day."

"I love you too, more then you know." I tell him and kissed him again and we just laid there

"Do you ever think about having kids?" He asked me and I looked at him

"Like now?"

"Not now, but once this is all finished and we can finally catch our breaths." He says

"Oh, I don't know, I mean maybe, I would love to have a child with you. I'm just scared about it being raised in this world."

"Maggie's gonna do it, Rick's doing it, plus the walls here hold and keep us safe. He says and I smile

"You raise a good point Mr. Rovia" I said and he kissed me, "Well when this is all over I would love to start a family."

"Sounds like a plan Mrs. Rovia" I kissed him again and snuggled up to his chest.

* * *

 **Rick POV...**

"Here's a plan, and everyone's sticking to it. The plan is working. We're doing this. We're winning. We had a hard fight. We lost people, brave people who gave their lives to make sure we won. By the time it was over, there weren't any Saviors left standing."

 **Maggie POV...**

"We beat 'em, but things got complicated. Jesus took prisoners, brought 'em back home. We're holding 'em outside our gates for now, till we decide what to do. Until I decide."

 **Carol POV...**

"We took the outpost bit by bit. We thought we'd won. We were gathered up in the open when they ambushed us. It was over in seconds. Ezekiel, Jerry, and me, we're the only ones who made it back. Tell Sam that Shiva...Shiva sacrificed herself for Ezekiel."

 **Samantha POV...**

After I read that part of the letter Maggie handed me I felt tears in my eyes, I had a bond with Shiva, ever since I met that wonderful tiger she took a liking to me, but to know she died protecting her protector, made me happy to know her death wasn't in vain.

 **Rick POV...**

"All of it, it's scarier than I thought it'd be, but we're doing it. We have to. Sasha was first, and now there's been more. The sacrifices are real. We need to make it right for them. The rest of the plan's still a go. Tell Sam that Daryl is fine. We're moving on to the next step. I'm headed there now. The Sanctuary's still surrounded. They're trapped, cut off from their supplies. Every hour that goes by, we're makin' 'em weaker. The lookouts are all around the compound. They open a door, we fire. But if they open a door, seems like they'd have bigger problems. We meet at Sanctuary in two days to end this, to win it all. It's not like we haven't fought before. We fought every step of the way to this place, to this moment. The path has led us here, to who we are, to each other, to now. And we're so close. This can be our last fight."

* * *

"Sam, have you seen Jesus?" Maggie asked me walking over

"He's um..." I started to say shifting my eyes to the gate and she walked out with Gregory, me and Enid following

"Jesus." Maggie calls when we walk to the outside of the gates where we are keeping the Saviors, "Jesus" She walks up to him

"Hi."

"You're giving away our food." She tells him

"We had a bumper crop of turnips in the root cellar. We couldn't get rid of them. Saviors left them behind after they raided us."

"That cellar is there for a reason. We might have plenty now, but that could change. We got to look after our own." She says to him

"Paul, this is a farce. It's gone on long enough. I mean, build a gallows already. You're handy, Margaret. Save the bullets and be done with it." Gregory says and I roll my eyes

"Gregory" Maggie warned

"What? I'm just saying what everybody inside there is thinking."

"Go inside. Now." She ordered

"Come on, Gregory." Enid said to him and he scoffed

"You know I'm right." He says to Maggie and walked away with Enid

Me, her and Jesus moved away from the Saviors, "You shouldn't have put us in this position." Maggie tells Jesus

"Are you seriously thinking about doing what Gregory said?" He asked her

"Every option's on the table. They have to be."

"What are we fighting for, Maggie?"

"You know." She tells him

"Yeah, I thought I did. That's why they're here."

"We have to end this and Negan." She pointed out

"We will. But when we do, we have to make sure what's left is worth what we lost." He says to her and walked away

"I'm sorry she asked and I.."

"It's okay Samantha," He tells me cutting me off, "I shouldn't have asked you to lie to her" I smile at him then walked away heading back inside

* * *

 **Jesus POV...**

Night time fell and I was still outside the gate waiting over the Saviors, I hear hammering going on inside and I peak through the crack

"What are they building?" one of them asked me and I looked at him

"Don't worry about it."

"Did you sign up for this? When you joined your group? I was - I was by myself for a while. Then I found a safe place. Buncha survivors, buncha tough guys, too. Eventually, one of them took over, and another one took over, but I wasn't really paying much attention 'cause, you know, I was gettin' fed. I'm good with my hands. They sent me over to the satellite place to put up a fence. Now here we are. Now my life depends on the lady in charge in there."

"You can stop now." I tell him, "Don't pretend that any of us are innocent."

"What do they call you? Jesus? Well, Jesus, I'm, uh I'm no angel. Never said I was. Ain't no such thing." He says and I sighed, "That other girl, Sam I think her name is, she's uh she's a real nice piece huh?" He asked and I clenched my fists, "She yours?" He asks but I didn't answer, "Yeah, yeah she is well here's the thing, Jesus, um...when this turns bad for you guys and I'm sure it will, I hope you know that there are a lot of us here who would love to take turns with her." He tells and I whipped around looking at him but then stopped myself from storming over there and beating the crap out of him so instead I walk to the gates heading inside to our trailer, I opened the door and walked in seeing my wife asleep with a book in front of her. I smiled then moved the book away from her and pulled the blanket over her then kissed her head. I wasn't gonna let that guy get to me, I wasn't, I'm not that kind of guy and I know that both me and Daryl would kill anyone who tried to harm her, she would too but I would rather die saving her then to see that happen.

* * *

 **Samantha POV...**

I walked outside the gate and saw everyone including Jesus look at me, "Maggie says to bring them in." I tell him and we get them up and head inside over to Maggie

"Get them in." Maggie tells him indicating to the handmade cell thing they built

"Come on. Two at a time." Jesus instructed and they walk in

"Starting now, we'll keep the prisoners here. We'll feed them. We won't mistreat them. But we won't stand for anything less than total cooperation." Maggie informed us

"Uh Uh, Margaret, all - all due respect, uh, I'm just straight-shooting here. You can't let people we don't trust run around inside our walls." Gregory tells her and she looked at him

"You're right, Gregory. In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about what you told me yesterday. You see, I grew up on a farm. I know all about sheep and wolves." She tells him then both Kal and Eduardo grab Gregory's arm leading him to the cell

"What are you doing? What are you doing?"

"Come on, Gregory." Kal told him as he struggled

"Let go of me. No. Kal, are you serious? Eduardo? Wait! This - This can't - Wait."

"Calm down." Eduardo told him

"No, don't tell me to calm down. I am not gonna go in there. You can't! Maggie! Look, just - No, wait, stop! Just for a minute! Calm down! No, please, no! No! God! Oh, God. I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. I-" Gregory begged and started crying as they dragged him in, I see one of them try to go for Dianne's gun and I quickly punched him in the face through the wires knocking him down

"Oh, honey you're gonna get these people killed. Well, you already got some people killed, didn't you." He says to me laughing so I took my rifle and hit his face again with the end of it.

"Hey. Thank you." Another one says to Maggie

"Don't make me regret it. Or you will."

* * *

"I keep forgetting he's gone. I have this weight. There's moments when I - I think I'll see him, that I'll, uh be able to talk about how I'm feeling with him. And my mind catches up, and I remember that the pain is about knowing that it will never happen." Aaron tells me, Maggie and Enid as we sit in the study

"I know that feeling." Maggie says holding Gracie, the baby that they got from one of the outposts

"Does it get easier?" He asked her

"No. But it helps to do something about it." She says and Jesus walked in, "How is he?" She asked him

"Gregory's fine. He's trying to suck up to the Saviors now. I just wanted to say, I think you did the right I wanted to thank you."

"Don't." She tells him and Gracie fusses so she stands up bouncing her, "The Saviors in that pen might be bargaining chips. Maybe we'll have to trade them for some of our own people. They're alive 'cause we might need them. Jesus, if we don't we can't let them live." She tells him and I looked at him then Aaron stood up and left.

* * *

A few nights later we were driving to meet up with Rick and the others with some of our people following us, I was in the back behind Jesus with Neil next to me while Maggie sat in the passenger seat, I was leaning forward with my arm resting on Jesus's chest and my head resting on his head rest while he held my hand.

"Do you think they'll surrender?" Jesus asked Maggie

"They will. Eventually."

"Not now?" He asked

"Would we give up that quick?" She asked him in response

"No, we wouldn't."

"Damn straight." Neil said from next to me and I chuckled

"They don't surrender today, they will soon. Just need to run out of food, water, choices." She says and paused, "Slow down." She tells him and I lift my head and look out the front

"What is it?" I asked her

"Tree in the road wasn't there before."

"Could've fallen on its own. Trees do that." Jesus tried to reassure her

"It's them. Something happened." She says, Jesus turned the car off and Maggie grabbed her radio, Bertie, turn around." No answer, "Bertie!"

"Maggie." I said to her looking out the back window to see vehicles approaching and one pulled up in front of us

"Oh, shit." Neil says and Jesus gave a comforting squeeze to my hand after kissing it then I leaned back in my seat. I see them pull a ramp out of the truck then I see Jerry get brought out and forced to the ground

"No" I whispered and feel Maggie reach over and grab my hand and they bring over a wooden box propping it up on the car

"Hello, hello, hello!" Simon greets getting out of the truck, "Ahh. What a damn nice night. You all know the drill. Due to your recent decisions, everything has changed. And yet, nothin' has changed. Everyone needs to hand over their guns. Gary, shoot that beautiful bastard if anyone tries anything. Same goes for everyone in the cars." He says walking over to Maggie's window and another walks over to Jesus's, Jesus reaches down and hands his gun out and I reluctantly hand mine to him and he passes it out as well then Maggie gives hers to Simon.

* * *

"How'd you get out?" Maggie asked Simon

"Three guesses. Well, let's just say we figured it out."

"What'd you do to the others-" She started to ask

"Oh, yes! That's exactly where I was going next. Right now, Kingdom is getting its innards splayed out for the world to see. And the Saviors will be taking possession of that property, starting tonight. Same with Alexandria." He says and my breath caught in my throat, "As long as they don't make it complicated. But Hilltop? The farmers? The breadbasket of our nascent civilization? It's your lucky day. You've been chosen to keep producing. Gregory made a little bit of a fool out of me in front of the big man, so I am hoping that you are the one to make things right," He says and I hear something in the distance, "You hear that? I need you to shift into active listening. Eugene! Who, by the way, I was admittedly skeptical of, but, man, worked out like gangbusters. He helped us get out of the situation with the masses of the cold and impolite." _That bastard_ , "And now my guys are leading the rest of the herd away. So this can go one of two ways. One, I can kill this likable gent on his knees over there, drag you out of this car, and put you in this box. Hmm? In which you will not suffocate to death like your friend. Sasha." He tells her and I ball my fist up, pissed that he mentioned Sasha and pissed about him wanting to put Maggie in there, I wouldn't care what happened to me at this point, I would rather go down myself then see that happen, "And then we take you to Hilltop, gather everyone up, and kill you in front of the whole place. And then drag you back to Sanctuary and put on the spike in front of HQ. And then my people will lead the walker herd to the Hilltop and pull off the same move that your people tried unsuccessfully at our place. What a pain in the ass for everyone concerned. Hmm? Or two, you turn around, go home, start watering that sorghum, save everyone, and, most importantly, me, a lot of trouble. And, yeah we're gonna have to kill one of your people. But then we're aces," He stands up, Nah, Gary. I got this." Suddenly a gunshot went off next to me and I jumped as glass breaks, I look over and see Neil dead next me and tears fall down my eyes as my body trembles with fear and anger, "I just really needed you to know what I was talkin' about. I need you to smell it. Now tell me I don't got to kill this gent with the lustrous mane. Tell me I don't got to go down the line! Tell me, Maggie! Gary!" He shouts and him and the man cocks his gun

"No!" Maggie yells stopping him, "You don't need to do any of it. I just want to ask you a favor."

"What is that?" He asked her

"I'd like that box. Take Neil home, to bury him in."

"Favor granted." He tells her and moved away from the car, he opens the truck door and they take Neil out, I couldn't stop the tears from falling as they put him in the box.

* * *

We get back to the Hilltop and once we got out of the truck Jesus pulled me into a hug and I sniffled, "Are you ok?" He asked putting his hands on my face and I just shook my head then he pulls me into a hug again and we walk over to the cage we have the Saviors in

"Ohh! Margaret, I - I understand you putting me in here, a-a-and message received, but - you know I don't belong in here-"

"Shut up." Maggie says cutting Gregory off

"What happened out there?" Kal asked

"That one. Get him out." Maggie orders and I look at Jesus confused

"He gets out?" Gregory asked and scoffed

"Maggie, what are you doing?" Jesus asked her but she ignored him

"Kal, I need your gun." She tells him and he handed it over, "This one tried to kill you." She points out

"Maggie, you don't wanna do this." The guy says to her

"Shut up, Al! If Cupcake wants to put on a show, let her put on a show." Another Savior tells him and Maggie fired the gun killing him and I looked at her in shock

"You wanna be next?" She asked the other one

"No, I don't."

"Saviors killed one of our own tonight on the road. We aren't even, but that was a start." Maggie tells us

"Maggie." I started to say

"Get more guards on duty. Start fortifying the walls and bury Neil. First light, everybody else starts tending crops."

"I thought we don't give up." I said to her

"No, we don't. Simon said the others are under attack, which means there's no more supplies going in, but there might be people. We have to be ready. Gonna be up to Hilltop to make the last stand." She says to us and walked away towards the house and I looked at Jesus and followed her. When I walked into the house I knocked on the door to the study, I didn't get an answer but I heard crying so I slowly opened it walking in.

"Maggie?"

"Over here." I hear her say after a pause and I looked over at the couch in the room, I walked over to it and sat down next to her, "I had to do it Sam, they..."

"Hey," I cut her off grabbing her hand, "I understand, I do, but...I've never seen this side of you and I'll be honest it scares the shit out of me. I have your back no matter what but I need you to focus on what I'm about to tell you." I say to her and she looked at me, "You're my sister and I love you as well as that little baby in you, and I'm all for revenge, but killing one of them is just gonna add fuel to this fire. I don't want anything happening to you even if I have to throw myself in front of you to save you both," I tell and she gives a small smile, "We will win this but I don't want to watch you lose yourself in the process, you saw what it did to Rick after he lost Lori. I miss Glenn too, and not a day goes by where I don't want to watch Negan on his knees as we all take our turns giving him what he deserves but I have Jesus to keep me grounded and now you have me, always no matter what."

She smiles and sniffles as I pull her into a hug, "Thank you Sam, but there is one more thing I have to do." She walks outside and goes over to the others and tells them to put the Savior in it after they buried Neil then writes on it, I look down at it and see, _We have 38 more,_ _STAND DOWN_ , "Leave it where they'll find it" She tells them and walked away giving my arm a squeeze and I look at Jesus then head into our trailer.

"You okay?" He asked me as I stood there

"No, I'm not," I said and faced him, "I'm pregnant."

 **A/N: Ahh don't hate me, don't hate me, I'm sorry. So since it's the mid season finale it will be on here too, which BTW I'm so pissed and sad about Carl I mean come on! That's just mean AMC. *sighs* anyways, I hate taking a break but I want to make this as authentic as possible for you and I'm so happy you're enjoying it.**

 **Shout out to the first to people to review:**

 **BookKeeper88: I'm glad you think it's cute and I hope you enjoy all the other cute moments I do :)**

 **emmymay96: Thank you! I love that you love it and like I said I hope I can continue entertaining you.**

 **Until the Mid season starts again, TTFN Ta Ta For Now.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Authors Note**

 **I'm sorry this is not an update on the story but more of a question.**

 **I was thinking of doing a prologue story to this one going back to season 1**

 **I have made a poll and put it on my profile feel free to vote.**

 **Also I do have a pintrest board set up for this story if you want to take a look, name is hilaryh21**

 **It also has boards for my other stories as well if anyone has read those.**

 **So long for now my pretties.**


End file.
